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Let's just jump across the space-time continuum to the distant future when the beauty of Earth is just a memory. The last vestiges of humanity left their dying world to colonise the planet Evath, where their governing bodies invoked a draconian judicial system which produced the Ketars.

Though sounding like something you would combat with nasal spray, the Ketars were criminals banished from Evath to Mitral, one of its two moons. In their struggle to survive, the Ketars began mining for gas, but not having any mining experience, their efforts resulted in the destabilisation of gas pockets which began leaking their explosive contents up to the moon's surface. Realising the imminent danger, the Ketars decided to secretly evacuate to an uncolonised continent on Evath, leaving their automatic defence systems active.

Your 3D view of the proceedings is from behind the controls of the probe, the cabin of which can move to adopt a wide variety of viewing angles. The probe is equipped with an energy shield which absorbs hits from laser defences or collisions with obstacles. This and the probe's energy supplies are restocked by shooting pyramidal Rubicon crystals which can be found in abandoned store rooms. Cor!

If your shield or energy runs out, the mission comes to an end and you are awarded a score based on any items shot and the accuracy of your drilling.

Although I was happy to hail the arrival of the original C64 version of Driller as the best 3D experiene since Mercenary, the speed problem always put me off playing the game as much as I would have liked to.

Now here's the Amiga version, with no such problem - and I just can't stop playing it! It's just so well presented, and although there are a load of keyboard controls, you hardly need bother learning them all because the comfortable icon control system takes care of just about everything you need.

The level of detail the programmers have gone into is remarkable - right down to a little VU meter on the control panel and the three switch self-destruct mechanism for aborting the game. My only complaint is that there's no superb soundtrack as there was on the C64 version.

Apart from this, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't invest £25 in this.

Well, I'd disagree with Paul and Kati on this one, since I felt that a lot more could have been made of the Amiga conversion. With games like Starglider 2 around, fast moving 3D just isn't enough to guarantee an instant Sizzler for me.

Call me miserable ("You're miserable!"), but I felt that the landscapes should have had more detail and the gameplay could have been tweaked a bit to produce more, long-lasting puzzles.

Still, I'm just griping because this isn't the brilliant atmospheric experience, the C64 version was (for a start, there was no music on our copy) - lovers of the original should definitely check it out.

Anyone who disliked the C64 version because of its lack of speed should definitely take a look at the Amiga Driller.

The amount of possible viewing angles is all the more amazing because of the complexity and variety in the graphics - they may look a bit plain from the screenshots, but they take on a life of their own when moving.

I loved the way you could just wander about and explore - there's an incredible feeling of being on a different world... the next games in the series should be even better!

Until then, ignore our grouchbag editor and add Driller to your collection.

Presentation 95%
Pleasantly packaged with a map model and a 32-page novella/manual. Icon or keyboard control system is very easy to use.

Graphics 89%
Fast and smooth filled-in vector graphic representatins of Mitral's architecture.

Sound 49%
Good sound effects but sorely misses the C64 version's superb music.

Hookability 90%
No problems to prevent you becoming thoroughly engrossed.

Lastability 90%
Will have you scratching your head for some time to come.

Overall 89%
A superbly presented and totally captivating 3D experience.