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"Myrtle Rowbottom always enjoyed the summer months in the Oxfordshire village of Upper Slaughter."

What? Has my brain slipped a gear? This was not the beginning I had expected to Hive. I read on and found myself in a setting strongly reminiscent of John Wyndham's excellent science fiction novels.

A huge metallic hive - about the size of a tower block - has descended from space and settled in the Oxfordshire countryside. Now this is enough in itself to send the council planning chiefs into a furt but when huge insects come roaring out of the hive to terrorise everyone, something had better be done - and quickly.

The authorities respond by sending in The Grasshopper Ship, able to enter hostile environment. Officially called the S.E.A.C. Mk II, it got its nickname because of its ability to jump and crouch.

The mission is seemingly simple - to enter the Hive, locate and destroy the queen bee. Easy? You must be joking!

The game opens with you sitting in your Grasshopper Ship in Hive's entrance. The top two thirds of the screen is taken up by a view of the tunnel.

The instruments are as follows:

Code Display. This is used for noting your position in the game. It saves loading and saving your position on tape.

Junction Indicator. This lights up when there is a junction behind you.

Your Ship. This shows whether the Grasshopper is stationary, moving or crouching.

Life Force Indicator. If it reaches zero, you're dead.

Armour display. Shows you much front and rear armour the Grasshopper is carrying.

Icon Selection Display. As you travel around the Hive various bits and pieces of equipment can be picked up. This display shows what you've got and the item currently in use.

Your ship also carries three markers which can be dropped to help you map the tunnels. The ship is powered by electronic pylons which are scattered throughout the Hive.

Besides the myriad of electronic insects roaming around - and attacking you - three stings, spikes, webs and tripwires to cope with.

This Firebird game is a real goody. Excellent gameplay and a mapper's delight. Enter the Hive and you're in an absorbing, sometimes frustrating, nightmare world of creepy-crawlies. Hive is the bee's knees. Send help. I need it.