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Eagles is being billed as the sequel to Uridium. A proud boast but one which is, unfortunately, not really justified.

The main similarity I found was the sound. Eagles borrows a lot of the sound effects which were so brilliantly used on Uridium. But great sound won't compensate for the gameplay.

I found the plot of Eagles a little confusing.

The game is set in the year 2048. War has been raging for three hundred years.

Nuclear weapons have been outlawed but conflicts go on - using genetically created beings. Single-minded, they just destroy anything and everything that moves.

The blurb then goes on to mention about alien hordes with whom the "hero" Eagle pilots must do battle.

I suppose these "genetically created beings" must be the aliens. Still the plot is hardly the most important thing about shoot-'em-ups.

This left-and-right scrolling shoot-'em-up is set over eight levels where you must zap the aliens, collect androids and drop them into a chute on the planet's surface for extra energy points.

Eagles has one, two and team play options. The screen is split in half showing the view from each Eagle fighter.

In the one player option, you must zap the alien hordes and can follow the action in the top screen. The computer controls the rival Eagle in the bottom screen and you must beat him to the enemy droids. Once you've collected one - the eagle flashes when it is on board - you have to fly low over the planet's surface until you pass over the chute. The droid automatically goes down.

When the screen is clear you then take on the Zeta fighter. Win and you get extra points.

The Zeta fighter in the game I played will, I understand, be slightly refined before it goes on sale.

In the two-player mode you can either play as a team or take on each other in a head-to-head. As a team you share the points. In the head-to-head it's a race to see who gets the most droids. When the levels are cleared, you must take on each other.

Eagles is from the mind of Danish programmers Per Madsen and Bo Nielsen. It's graphically good to look at - although I must admit I don't like playing games with split screens because I always find myself looking at the wrong one - but it just doesn't really have enough excitement to place it in the top league of shoot-'em-ups.

The Eagle fighter is also very sluggish it's movements. You have to slow down before making a turn.

This can be especially annoying in two player mode when I was frantically trying to escape from being blitzed from behind. If I'd been able to execute a sharp turn I might have survived a little longer.

For me, Uridium still reigns supreme in the glorious world of shoot-'em-ups.