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The deviants, a semi-human race left over from Earth's early occupation of a distant world, have stirred their angry bones. They start changing their asteroid home into a massive astral battle station and look to other worlds to conquer.

A crack squad of Starwarriors was sent to ensure that the deviant's plans are thwarted - but you are all that remain of that once bold band, and your last task is to prime the mechanisms of the 30 nuclear weapons that you fellow fighters have laid.

Moving from platform to platform, you run and jump your way past the deviants who patrol their base, visiting a recharging station when too much fighting has exhausted you. (You can also replenish your blaster's ammunition on some levels.)

Teleports at strategic points provide fast access to other sections of the asteroid base. But combat years ago has damaged them, so they're unreliable.

When contact is finally made with an unprogrammed nuclear device, six activator valves appear onscreen. To prime one of these bombs, every valve must be closed with six corresponding keys. The task is complicated, however, by the fact that the valves are interlinked - close one and another may open. And a countdown shows how many seconds remain before the bomb self-destructs.

Programmer Colin Swinbourne's Joe Blade (also from Players) was found very playable and addictive a few months ago, earning 84% in Issue 44. The world loved it, too, and it sat at the top of the sales charts for more than a month.

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston,
Sinclair
Graphics: good
Sound: good tune and effects

'Having to shoot these deviants more than once gets annoying, and their superior agility cramps your movement on every screen. And there's no information on how to set the bombs, which makes the game very short and pointless till you've found out how to do it. Dark atmospheric, graphics are the only good point.'

'I've been eagerly awaiting the next game from the programmer of Joe Blade - but I'm disappointed by Deviants. It's a pity Colin Swinbourne didn't try something a bit more adventurous than an extension of Virgin Games's Dan Dare, and Deviants has too many features of Joe Blade as well. The play area is very large and the graphics are many and varied, but still the game is disappointing.'