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DreamTracks are the entertainment craze of the 21st century, storing memories of exciting events or fantasies and replaying them for consumers. DreamTracks recreate the exact sensations of events, the smell and even the taste of them as much as the sight and sound. But by their very success, DreamTracks have led to abuse and corruption.

The Dreamers whose memories, and fantasies, are stored on the Tracks are implanting subliminal messages to make consumers buy certain products. More recently political messages which add up to virtual thought control are being hidden in the Tracks. One ex-Dreamer, Chadd, sets out to destroy a particularly dangerous Track stored in a High Security building. He asks his girlfriend to walk in and get the Track, while he infiltrates the computer to deactivate all the security systems.

The computer's programs are represented not by numbers, but complex 3D graphic icons. The windows, icons and pointers of the WIMP Amiga interface have been replaced by fast moving 3D landscapes. The databanks of various systems are now represented by abstract shapes rather than names on a pull-down menu. Dock with one and you can access the data. And while you search through the interphase, security systems in the shape of attack fighters zoom after you.

The game starts with you entering the building through a tunnel-like datastream; touch the walls or the mini-datastreams forming bars and you lose energy. You emerge in black space. Above and below you are coloured squares which you fly through to other levels. Various weird graphics dot the landscape, while attack ships blast at you. Press the Spacebar and you can use the mouse to click on one of the options on the control panel.

Your girlfriend sends you messages to tell you if she's in trouble. To start off with, she's blocked by a door. After reading her message you can call up a Blueprint map of the floor she's on. Zoom in to find the door, then lock your navigation system on it. Exit from the map and arrows flash to show whether you have to go up, left or wherever. Eventually you find a green cube in a gray frame. This is the sub-program controlling the door. Shoot it and the door opens. Your girlfriend walks through, is spotted by a TV camera and fried a robot. Maybe you should have turned the TV camera off first!

If you should need to lock the opened door, you can go to a workshop to pick up a green cube. Put a tractor bream on it and, if you replace it in the grey frame, the camera is re-activated. Other security systems to work out include turntables (which change the direction the robots go), pressure pads, electrified floors, and lifts. To complete a level, you must get the girl to the lift, then fly through the datastream tunnel to level two. (This is where you can save the game.)

Some of the levels take a lot of thinking to work out, others rely more on blasting fleets of enemy fighters. The game's flexibility is immense!

Initially it all seems completely bewildering, but persistence soon reveals the basic simplicity of the game structure. Level one can then be solved quite easily: "Is that all there is?" I wondered.

Level two is much more of a challenge though, the simple game ideas interlocking to make a good puzzle. On top of that, switching off cameras, turning turntables, etc, requires you to fly through lots and lots of enemy fire.

The traditional shoot-'em-up skills of quick shooting and knowing when to recharge your energy are vital. Level three has a slightly different landscape, a starglider-like enemy ship, and more tough puzzles.

This is a classic game, likely to keep you playing long after those coin-op conversions have lost their appeal. Don't miss it!

I'm honestly surprised that this type of game hasn't been done before. The combination of sheer blasting action and brain-bending puzzles doesn't clash awkwardly but merges together to make for one deceptively demanding game.

The feeling of being within a computer system is wonderful, much better than the movie Tron, with a claustrophobic feeling of flight between layers of computer systems.

The strange, very surreal logic devices moving with amazing smoothness around the system, and the neat Blueprint of each level, make a truly fascinating game. The problem side of the game is akin to an adventure game and the arcade element is a considerable challenge in itself (not including the object manipulation side of it) and yet it doesn't fall between the two stools.

Haunting music or Starglider 2-style sound effects would have really made for a special game but otherwise Interphase is weird and wonderful.

Presentation 82%
Nice packaging and save/load facility, but a digitized biker putting on a helmet is a weird, and wasteful, intro.

Graphics 91%
Fast, and smoothly animated, vector graphics establish an excellent atmosphere.

Sound 65%
Poor intro tune and good spot FX.

Hookability 82%
Initially a bit confusing, but once grasped the original concepts are marvellously simple.

Lastability 95%
Twelve increasingly tough levels to get to the DreamTrack, plus some strange new creatures.

Overall 93%
An extraordinary new game which you must try!