Quicksilva have produced an excellent version of Galaxians for the ZX81. The action is fast and responsive, and it is a pleasure to play.

Two types of galaxians move, in formation, across the top of the screen, and swoop down, attacking your base. You have three lives available, while the speed, firing-rate and the number of swooping Galaxians are adjustable by the player.

Points are scored, in the usual fashion, by blasting the Galaxians as they fly. However, more points can be scored if the Galaxians are hit as they swoop down from the top of the screen.

Scoring is displayed on the screen, and at the end of each game, your score is entered into a league table which can cater for up to fifteen games/players.

The first batch of swooping Galaxians are particularly good at searching out an destroying your base, and some deft manoeuvring is required to avoid their attack. Thereafter the battle is fierce but a high score can be achieved by the experienced player. If it becomes too easy, the level of difficulty can be soon increased.

This cassette also contains Gloops, a version of the arcade type maze game. You move your 'Gobbler' eating up food pills which are worth about 10 points each. The 'Ghosts' will eat you if they catch you. If you can reach one of the power pills in the maze, you take your revenge for a short while and add 100 points to your score if you can catch a ghost. There are 10 different mazes to choose from, and the speed is selectable in ten discrete steps. Action is responsive, making Gloops a first-class version of this popular game.

Now for the bad points! Although the instructions state that both Galaxians and Gloops auto-run upon loading, the review copy I had did not. To execute the program, I had to enter in immediate-mode, GOTO 1. This being said, both are impressive machine code games, and overall the cassette is a very reasonable buy.

Galaxians costs £4.95 and Quicksilva Ltd is at Palmerston Park House, 13 Palmerston Road, Southampton SO1 1LL.