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The discovery of valuable mineral deposits on the moons of Saturn has turned the solar system into one of the wealthiest parts of the galaxy. To protect these new-found resources, a crack security group has been set up. They wear armed jetpacks. They cover their 'beats' in pairs. They are... the Jet-Boys.

Evil Cyris B de Ville has just bought one of the moons in question, built a fortress upon it, populated it with mechanical and organic warriors and placed a reactor at its heart. The reason why has just become apparent - unless he's granted ownership of Saturn's other moons, he's going to destroy the reactor, wiping out his own moon and irradiating all the others, thus rendering the minerals unusable.

The Jetboys aren't going to stand by and let such a vile despot have his way. Two of the finest Jetboys are assigned the task of destroying de Ville's forces across four sectors of horizontally scrolling terrain. Complements to each Jetboy's arsenal periodically fly across the screen, supplying lasers, Quad blasters, shields and extra speed.

Every alien destroyed adds one unit to a timer. At the end of each level is a guardian alien who is destroyed by repeated blasting before the timer runs out.

Jetboys is immediately reminiscent of Nemesis. Graphically, it's very pleasant indeed, with some nice parallax scrolling and attractive sprites, but the gameplay is very poor.

The playing area is cramped and the initial weapon speed is slow, making it extremely difficult to pass the first level - even with two players.

After a while my frustration exceeded my willingness to persevere, and I don't think I'll return to it unless I'm in an exceptionally charitable mood.

There are three Side Arms official conversions from Go!, Zybex and this - the poorest of the lot. The odds are stacked against you from the beginning. Aliens whizz in from either side of the screen, making life very difficult for the sluggish jetboys.

Killing the guardian alien is also very tricky, and it's very disheartening to die time and time again and have to replay the entire level all over again.

It takes very little time for frustration to creep in, and the computer to be switched off. If you're after a good shoot-'em-up, try Zybex - it's much more playable, has better graphics and costs seven pounds less.

Jetboys is a playable shoot-'em-up ruined by several major faults. The backgrounds are repetitive and the sprites unimaginative.

The difficulty is very high, and it's very frustrating when you're destroyed countless times by the alien at the end of each level.

The control method is similarly detrimental: the turning speed and firing rate are both too slow, and the collision detection is ridiculously inconsistent: generous and overly tight by turns. I have serious doubts about the lastability - with only four levels to master and nothing special in the gameplay to draw you back it won't be long before Jetboys is permanently relegated to the software bin.

Presentation 66% Options amount to little more than a choice between one or two players.

Graphics 78% Pleasant backdrops and sprites.

Sound 56% Competent but forgettable tunes accompany appropriate effects.

Hookability 70% Initial frustration keeps you coming back for more...

Lastability 44% ...but, after a while, hopes of enjoyable progression quickly fade.

Overall 52% Nice to look at, but suffers from poor playability.