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In the wake of Elite for the BBC comes another 3D game about space exploration and conquest. Dark Star is much more in the way of a good old mega-zap but it combines it with outstanding graphics.

In your Liar spacecraft you are faced with a 16 x 16 sector galaxy in which the Evil Lord's Empire controls a cluster of oppressed planets. These come in four types, the most heavily defended of which must all be wiped out in order to liberate the galaxy.

In each sector you have a forward view into space and can encounter four varieties of object: planets, on which you can land, hyperspace gates, energy squares and enemy fighters. You control both directions of travel and firing by an on-screen cursor which has to be centred on gates and squares to pass through them or on fighters to destroy them.

Centering the cursor on a planet will take you down to skim over the surface where enemy bases are located. These can be shown on a map which can guide you in on the target. The bases are protected by anti-aircraft fire from the tops of towers and force fields. The towers collapse when blasted and the fields have holes in them through which you can fly.

Destroying the main bases on a planet will liberate it and allow you to leave it. That sector is then free and you can take a hyperspace tunnel to any of four adjacent sectors.

Your craft has a fairly small energy supply which can be depleted by enemy fire, contact with force fields or straying outside a hyperspace tunnel. Energy supply boxes can be found both on planet surfaces and in deep space and are essential to a successful mission.

These boxes are blue and pulsate forward and back as you approach them. You have to close with them at speed or they recede which makes them exceptionally difficult to pass through.

A delightful, if somewhat weird, sense of humour runs throughout the game.

The high score table contains either a poem or a conversation at the start and there are screen modes such as 'pretty', 'slimline' and 'wide angle' which apparently only the programmer can play.

An excellent feature is the ability to change various aspects of the game including the sound, difficulty, display and ship characteristics. The program can be moulded to the player's skill and there's plenty of galaxy to keep you hooked.

Strangely, I wasn't too impressed with Dark Star when I first played it. Yes, the graphics were great... There was a good feel to the game... There were one or two original touches... The menu screens had a sense of humour... But...

But what? Well, I left the game feeling somehow that I'd seen it all before, and that - however good it was - it was still just another 3D shoot-out that didn't really offer much more than the original Star Raiders.

On the other hand, next morning I found myself aching to have another crack at it. There must be a moral here somewhere, but rather than bother about what it is, I think I'll just sit down and have another game... and another...

The game belongs to a genre that doesn't often appeal to me - the 3D deep-space tactical shoot-'em-up. But I found it exciting and compelling and kept wanting to have just one more go. Which I did, without much success.

Even though you can change the levels, it was still very difficult. It's heartbreaking swooping down to a planet's surface and blasting everything on sight, only to find yourself running out of fuel without a gas station in sight.

Not that I'm complaining that I was struggling to know what to do. The controls are surprisingly easy to use considering the large number of options available. It's rather that the game really makes high demands on your shoot-'em-up skills.

The graphics gave a great sensation of the third dimension and Dark Star's size and complexity would certainly have me coming back for more.

Bob Wade