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The planet of Zero was an ice planet in the grip of a never-ending age. The people lived below the planet's surface, drawing their energy from a huge network of plutonium carrying pipes that ran along the planet surface.

Unfortunately, plutonium being what it is, Zero soon became a target for anyone interested in an easy supply of this highly dangerous mineral. The current threat is from the Destrovians, the inhabitants of a neighbouring planet renowned for their warmongering tendencies.

The invasion started slowly. A few teams of saboteurs landed in order to establish a foothold in the outer edges of the piping network. But as they conquered, they built scanning devices, supply dumps and other defensive measures all went up.

In desperation, the Zeronians sent their meagre forces out to oppose the Destrovians. But to no avail. It seemed a certainty that Zero was to become a doomed planet.

As in all the best game scenarios, there is one last hope: you, the gunrunner. There are ten sections of piping to be traversed and you must do your best to neutralise the Destrovians in each sector by destroying as many of their defences as possible.

Armed initially only with your trusty laser, you will find items lying around that should prove useful later on. These were left behind by other failed would-be heroes. Multi-fire converts your blaster into a tri-directional, rapid fire weapon. Poison acts as a smart bomb, destroying all the Destrovians on screen at that moment. A shield can help protect you from the falling bombs, although, like poison, it can only be used a limited number of times. Finally, there is a jetpack which allows you to fly over the pipe network, but there is only a limited amount of fuel in it.

As you progress through each level, take every opportunity to shoot the scanner orbs and domes. Take special care with the domes which are likely to be booby trapped. If you collide with one the Destrovians, you are alright if you have any shield operational - you will just lose some of the shield's power. If you *don't* have a shield, the invading force will steal your equipment and if you don't have any equipment...

At the end of each level, there is a bonus screen in which, equipped with laser and jetpack, you must fight your way through to the next level within a given time limit.

Gunrunner has the typical slick Hewson look. It looks very good and handles well, but it just doesn't have that elusive addictiveness about it that can transform a very good game into an excellent one, however.