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The Forth Empire has occupied the five planets of the Junos star system and turned them into fearsome military bases. Only the elite Galaxy Force pilots can save the day...

Start the battle on any of the planets and use lasers and missiles in time-honoured xenophobic fashion. Energy can be topped up by collecting special capsules, so you might just be able to penetrate the fortress at the heart of the planet. Once inside, it's a simple matter of squeezing through the barriers, punching home the killer blow to the planet guardian, and zooming off into space for the next planet.

The Amiga version was slow and unexciting, so little was expected of the C64, but it turns out to be quite impressive!

Covering four disk sides, it features loads of large, detailed graphics moving very quickly. The clouds, briefly-seen guardians and the fire leaping up in "Salamander" fashion are all good.

But it can still get a bit confusing, and the gameplay soon gets repetitive. Full marks for effort though, and hopefully the graphic routines might be reused in a (gasp!) original C64 game.

The C64 game is long overdue and never really could come across with anything like the original's visual quality. At least programmer Neil Coxhead has gone for the 'feel' of the coin-op with its fast pace and sheer mass of graphics getting thrown at the player.

With Probe lending a hand on the front-end and the axeman Martin Walker providing good sonics, it's all slickly done. Inevitably though, without the awesome graphics the weak, limited gameplay lets it down.

Presentation 77%
Smart select-a-planet scene accompanied by separate intro for each planet, reasonable multi-load on disk (tape doesn't bear thinking about!), handy level-restart feature.

Graphics 71%
Impressive number of fast-moving expanded sprites with masses of colour although it can get messy when the action hots up.

Sound 68%
Above average tunes for each level, but title tune is best.

Hookability 64%
Select-a-planet option allows you to see a lot of the impressive graphics quickly. The fast-paced action is instantly playable.

Lastability 52%
Gameplay is repetitive, somewhat confusing and pretty tough with a fast dwindling energy supply to see you through five large planets.

Overall 56%
Ambitious and respectably programmed but mediocre gameplay.