For those of you not old enough to remember, Gunsmoke is the game of a famous old Western television series. Software Invasion have taken the "shoot-'em-up" theme literally and produced a cowboy game.

The player is in control of a Wild West gunslinger facing a row of buildings (including a saloon, store and the mandatory sheriff's office). The player may control whether the gun is up or down (including a half-up position) and the left-right movement of the gunslinger. The object is to shoot any baddies (or any they goodies?) that appear at the doors and windows of the building opposite.

To be frank, the game is boring once the basics have been grasped. Whilst the movements of the gunslinger are good (even though only in the left-right plane), the lack of imagination in what the player controls and uncanny Exocet-like homing instincts of the opponent's bullets leads to the player losing interest very quickly.

The idea is obviously a good one. Perhaps developed along the lines of a two-player game with more freedom of movement it will lead to a winner. Unfortunately though, as it stands this game will not go down in the annals of computer games' history.

Shingo SugiuraGiuseppe de Benedictis