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Galvan is odd. It's sort of Manic Miner meets Galaxians - platforms, ladders and swirling hoards of flying aliens.

Your well-animated, largish figure kicks off standing on a platform in a bewildering alien landscape. Initially you'll find your surroundings to be of a rocky nature, but as you move further into the game, other backgrounds will reveal themselves.

The playing area is quite small - about half the total screen width but the lack of on-screen space is more than compensated for by the speed of the scrolling. While you stroll around your environment, in a style a bit like Doctor Who And The Mines Of Terror, the screen will lurch around in a very effective, if not particularly elegant, manner. This isn't scrolling, it's jerking, but it never claims to be anything else. When you go down stairs, the whole screen shudders up and down like it's being shaken about all over the place. Suddenly, you're dive-bombed by a swirl of alien fiends - flying in Galaxians-style formation. As fiends go, these little critters are pretty mean. They come in a number of shapes and sizes, ranging for nasty little triangular things which lurk on the floor, waiting for you to walk past, to whacking great boxes with tubular arms. Although the latter do very little to your energy level, they look very impressive indeed. so they must be desperately important.

Some fly around in menacing little squadrons, diving to head height in order to provide an extraordinary dangerous haircut.

But the most impressive form of beasty is the alien who looks very similar to yourself. He walks around, and punches in a most realistic manner.

You too can resort to the most primative means of attack, in fact I found it rather effective. Also available as a method of self defence is a form of ray gun which - when operated - sends out a beam of light blue, um, light, destroying anything in its way.

You don't get to use such splendiferous weapons (the other one is a straightforward pistol) without working for them, though. You must seek out the horrendously illusive blue triangles, which will let you use either gun.

If a continual stream of mindless violence is not all that appealing, you can opt for a more passive existence by simpy attempting to dodge the aliens. You can jump and duck in an attempt to avoid death. Obviously, you fail with remarkable regularity.

The best plan of action is to work gradually down the screens moving left and right, in order to work your way to the bottom of the playing area. Once you've got there, you will encounter The Alien. Once destroyed, you move on to the next level.

As you go deeper into the game, various new creatures will appear in order to block your path. While underwater, for example, some shark type beasts will swim around and drain your energy. In the computerised area, your foes are much more mechanical.

And you can fire while jumping. Although some of the movements are a little unresponsive, it is possible to leap into the air and shoot down an approaching horde.

A useful two-player option is also included so you can play against a friend.

Some of the aliens stun on contact. If you are unfortunate enough to run into one of these, you will be grozen to the spot for a few seconds and, until the blue border has vanished from the screen, stuck you stay!

At times, there is an awful lot of activity on the screen. The programmers have managed to contain the action very neatly, and everything still runs smoothly.

Galvan is hardly the most original game in the world. It is, on the other hand, fast, smooth, and surprisingly vicious.

An aggressive little conversion from the coin-op original. Lots of movement and killing. Everything you need.