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In a far-off time, many light years from our own galaxy, a war is raging between two races: the Omagons and the Julars. For too long, the Omagons had been capturing Julan citizens and shuttling them back to Omagar, as slaves to work in the mines. Being the weaker race, the Julan government turned a blind eye to the problem, insisting there was no threat.

Luckily for the Julan authorities, a group of rebels has found a chink in the Omagon armour: the mysterious Elcron crystals, growing deep beneath the planet's crust. Omagar is so polluted that only these crystals, which filter off surface toxins, prevent it from becoming a dying planet. Trouble is, due to intense mining methods and constant bombardment by the Julars, the crystals are running out.

To protect the remaining few, the Omagons erected a series of long, winding roadways, guarded by almost impenetrable energy fences and heavily-armed soldiers. The official Julan army has been finding it impossible to get past; the unofficial rebel army, on the other hand, has been paying its scientists a lot more. They've come up with a special power source, an ultra-strong metal and the ultimate Eliminator fighting machine.

All you've got to do is take charge of this fighter, get out onto Omagar's scrolling 3D causeways and take on the enemy might. Easy. Well it would be if the road wasn't blocked by so many treacherous barriers and guarded by fierce enemy alien formations.

You start off with three fighters and an energy supply for each. Pick up the icons for extra weapons (multiple fire, dispersed fire - the usual thing) or top-up ammunition. Every now and again, you can move up a ramp which gives you enough power to leap over obstacles and land. And you don't even get a hair out of place... I bet you think you're *really hard*.

If the action didn't keep slowing down, and there wasn't so much boring waiting around for something to happen, I'd really have enjoyed Eliminator.

I mean, the 3D scrolling is smooth, the in-game tune is atmospheric (could have done with some sound FX though) and the gameplay's pretty unusual - it's just that the whole thing doesn't move fast enough to give it that extra edge.

OK, so it looks nice, but when it comes down to it all you've got to do is a bit of fairly mediocre dodging, shooting baddies and collecting weapons.

Come to think of it, most of the stuff we review has you doing that!

What struck me most about Eliminator was the roadway itself. Talk about smooth! Hewson have used the same basic idea as Gremlin did with Trailblazer to simulate a truly convincing feeling of movement. Sound is almost as impressive, with a couple of extremely good tunes playing throughout.

The only thing lacking really is long-term gameplay: it's all good fun for a bit, but on some levels the gaps between aliens are just a bit *too* long, so it starts to wear a bit thin.

Still, if you're after one impressive piece of software, you could do a lot worse than have a look at this.

Presentation 74%
Neatly laid-out documentation, and well-presented screen display with good rainbow effect.

Graphics 71%
Smooth 3D scrolling road and some imaginative sprites, which slow up when there's a lot happening on-screen.

Sound 72%
No sound effects, but a couple of well-groovy tunes urge you through each level.

Hookability 79%
Impressive presentation and easy-to-learn gameplay ensures instant approval.

Lastability 68%
Could become slightly tedious after prolonged stints in front of the screen.

Overall 74%
A well-presented piece of programming, which would benefit from a tweak here and there in the action stakes.