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One hundred and fifty years hence a job with the electricity board will involve not only reading meters, but an ability to seek out and destroy alien druids.

But the compilers of GridRunner can't wait that long. In it, you are in command of a spaceship operating in a power grid which is infested by alien druids, and your aim is to ensure they do not enjoy their stay. You are armed with a plasma cannon to help get this message across.

The basic concept of this fast-moving game is similar to the popular arcade game Centipede, with the base ship having two degrees of freedom to attack and avoid the descending droids. The druids appear in chains which scurry left to right descending as they do.

In order to 'zap the grid', you must destroy all the druids which will earn you an extra ship. Life is, however, never that simple, and there are three distinct dangers for our futuristic LEB man.

The first is being rammed by a druid, which will result in the loss of your ship, and you will have to use your manoeuvrability to its full to avoid this. The second danger comes from those friends of the aliens, the X/Y Zappers, who move along the edges of the grid, zapping away on a fixed and fortunately predictable cycle.

The last threat comes from a pod, a pod being what is left when you blast a druid segment. These little beasties stay where the droid was hit and grow old, and doubtless bitter, for a certain age.

Then they send a bolt of energy vertically down the grid with the sole aim of returning the favour of their recent blasting.

All three of these dangers can be avoided once they are understood, and a good rule of thumb is to keep on the move within these areas you see as safe. This is a very fast-moving game which demands fast reactions and cool head.

The graphics are excellent, and there is a good, 'chunky' blast from the ship's cannon. All in all, a most enjoyable game, but not for those with heart problems.