You are the captain of the U.S.S. Endeavour about to undertake a deep-space mission to rescue your missing first officer Mr. Spark, and return to Spacefleet HQ. He may have been stranded on some planet or captured by alien Zigons.

From this kind of description it is quite obvious that this is a game based on the ancient Star Trek game. Could this be a super Star Trek game with incredible 3D graphics to match Elite? Well, unfortunately, no.

In Landing Party you have to search for Mr. Spark with your forward scan, fighting off the occasional Zigons with your lasers or fulton torpedoes. The well-presented information and some of the character graphics certainly add interest, but the trouble is you end up mindlessly wandering through the galaxies.

Obviously, not being a shoot-'em-up, there is no skill in the form of hand-eye coordination involved in this game and, what is worse, not much intelligence is required to play it either!

Star Trek type games with no graphics went out of fashion a very long time ago and this particular version is definitely not going to bring them back.

Shingo Sugiura