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It's the year 2056 and Earth's "Star Wars" defence system has made war a thing of the past. For years mankind lived without conflict - until disaster struck and Earth's orbiting defence network was turned into a deadly weapon by a passing fleet of marauding aliens.

Only one man could save the world from destruction - Captain Nick Diamond. So, jumping into the cockpit of his Eagle Class E751 space fighter, he set off.

In Defcom, you play Nick Diamond and are in control of the E751. The fighter appears near the bottom of the screen with the Earth rotating below. Alien formations sweep in and out of the screen, firing missiles which deplete your ship's energy on contact. The aim is simple: destroy the aliens and the satellites under their control.

Pressing the Space bar calls up a menu from which a map of the World can be accessed. Scrolling messages tell you where the aliens are grouping so your craft can be directed to the trouble spots. After 1,000 points have been scored, an anti-satellite homing missile is earned and a double laser is bolted on to your ship.

This powerful weapon is activated using the menu system, but it drains more energy than the conventional laser, so it has to be used wisely.

The destruction wreaked on the world's major cities is measured by a system of diminishing points. They start off with a value of five, and if this is allowed to fall to zero the city is totally destroyed. To prevent this, you must destroy the relevant satellite. There are eight cities in total; if these are destroyed, your mission has failed and the game is over.

Defcom is a sort of small-screen version of Gyruss with extra, superfluous features. There isn't a lot of variety in the graphics or gameplay, and to make matters worse it's highly frustrating to play.

The aliens move too fast and are difficult to hit, and having to access an options menu during play causes a lot of unnecessary grief. I wouldn't be impressed if this was released at a budget price - I'm shocked to see it's full-priced.

There's nothing in this game to sustain interest for more than a couple of minutes. The graphics are shoddy and the sprites flicker about the screen at ridiculously fast speeds, hardly giving you a nano-second to shoot them.

You're hardly given a chance to avoid the enemy missiles if you move about, so it's best to stay on the extreme left-hand side of the screen and keep your finger on the fire button (using this method you never seem to actually die!).

The tune played throughout is nice, but it doesn't really suit the game at all. Whether you're a shoot-'em-up fan or not, forget it.

After having worked out that the things whizzing across the screen at a rate of knots are the alien craft, the only problem left is to shoot them - they're just too fast!

Having to access an options menu while playing, just to see your score and a display of what's going on, is rather silly - while you're trying to do so, the alien onslaught continues and more often than not you are blown to pieces.

Destroying the satellites is easier said than done. Again, they shoot past at great speed, and I haven't managed to blast one yet.

There isn't much to Defcom, and what's there is totally unplayable.

Presentation 68%
Impressive high-score table, silly menu system.

Graphics 39%
Poor 3D effect and flickery sprites. Interesting effects on the title screen though.

Sound 74%
A decent David Whittaker tune plays throughout, but it doesn't really suit the action.

Hookability 38%
Mediocre playability and repetitive gameplay fail to inspire.

Lastability 28%
Not much variety or excitement.

Value For Money 26%
Ridiculous price tag for what is essentially sub-standard budget software.

Overall 35%
Quite simply, a very dull and overpriced shoot-'em-up.