A droid crosses in front of Corporal Hansen. He's been waiting for this, and takes a carefully aimed shot, but the M4000's bullets skitter off its armour. Hansen's in trouble and the rest of the laser squad will have to get there pretty quick if he's to avoid becoming a smouldering lump of laser fodder. It may be war, but that droid's getting personal.

Laser Squad is a game of tactics and violence, accurately simulating the one-to-one combat of rebel space marines. A wargame in essence, it takes you down to the level where you can almost feel a victim's last breath. You've got to organise the men to achieve an objective within a specified number of turns and, when the strategy has been decided, the shooting starts. All movements and combat relate to the action points total of each trooper, which is calculated with regards to encumbrance, wounds and physical stamina. Every activity, from an aimed shot to priming a grenade, uses a predetermined number of action points, forcing you - the commander - to carefully consider each and every action. There's nothing more frustrating than having an enemy in your sights and no energy left to pop off a grenade and frag him.

The style of play is completely in the hands of the commander, right down to choosing the arms and the armour for the team. The range on sale at the local munitions store is enormous and vicious: battle armour in four different grades, a multitude of rifles and lasers, as well as sundry explosives, are all on offer. The only limit is the generous budget which forces few compromises on the easier levels.

Tooling up the lads takes a few minutes - double check everyone's got spare ammo - because when the action starts, you'll need all the firepower you can put your trigger finger on. Different missions need different weapons and some guns become positively dangerous to the user as well as the target if used in a rash moment of panic (rocket launchers in small rooms, for example).

Armed and dangerous, the Squad are ready to beam down to the mission start points (or LZs as we used to call them in 'Nam). Remember, you are so totally in control that you even have to tell them to pick up their rifles when you land!

The first mission sends you in pursuit of Sterner Regnix, a man the rebellion want pushing up daisies and not repressing the masses. The attack you have to lead on his house is no quick "nip round the back and poison his cocoa" job, but more a convincing impersonation of Beirut. Battle droids patrol everywhere and Sterner is kitted out in the best armour money can buy. Subtlety, though, soon gives way to overkill when you start loosing off your rocket launcher in his living room.

Mission two sends you on an Search & Destroy patrol to a lunar computer station. This system has been gathering too much in depth info on the rebels: your job is to go into the moonbase and blow it chip from chip. Once again the base is defended by some mean hombres (watch out for Trooper Sol) who must be persuaded with laser pistols to let you trash their hardware collection.

Mission three casts you as the rescuers of fellow revolutionaries incarcerated in a mine complex. Long twisting corridors push your nerves to the limit as you never know what you'll bump into at the next junction. Accuracy is of prime importance here, which can be a real test on the nerves and the patience.

Expansion one puts you in defence of a planet's geothermal core taps which are being attacked by war droids - which would result in a hole clean through the planet and not just the ozone layer. Expansion two places you in Paradise Valley, a nice place for a venom spitting alien, but downright terrifying for space grunts. Guess what you meet though as you stroll across the valley floor escorting a top spy to safety? Yup, venom spitting aliens - big and nasty ones!

Two things add excitement and great appeal to the package: a two player mode and the element of luck. In two player, one side controls the LS boys, the other player the evil empire's soldiers. If you can exercise enough self restraint to avoid looking as your opponent directs his forces then a truly intriguing battle of wits ensues. So now you've a chance to hunt friends down, hound them till they're begging for mercy, and still shoot them!

Luck has the largest part to play of all factors in any successful Squad campaign. Sometime you'll find your troops unable to even see the barn let alone hit its broadside! And since all the combat is random, even if you aim at point blank range there is still a slight possibility you may miss, a chance magnified for a snap shot at medium distance and a near certainty for spray fire at long.

Similarly, to surprise an opponent and get opportunity fire as they enter your line of sight you must have more action points left than them. But how do you know? You can be waiting hidden in an alcove and still be denied a shot by a particularly active robot. Worse still, if you get a crack at a bad guy and miss there's a strong possibility you've frittered away all your action points and you're about to be introduced to the business end of a pump action shotgun.

The fun in Laser Squad stems from its flexibility and its playability. With two players and four levels of difficulty (seven on the expansion modules) the games playing life is a long one indeed. It's the armaments on offer that really make the whole show worthwhile, because even when you've beaten a scenario you can give fresh life by tackling it with over the top or completely inappropriate weapons.

With the addition of "add on" modules, this one will run and run - who knows where the next mission will take us? With the two current expansion modules new weapons have been added and the difficulty has been stepped up. Laser Squad as it stands now will have any "intelligent aggro freak" coming back time and time again.

You'll love the smell of Auto Cannon in the morning. It smells of Victory.

It's apparent from the word go that this is no ordinary computer game. The sheer satisfaction of blowing your opponents (especially a friend) all over the scenery is an impressively good experience.

Playing two player stretches the life of the game, but there are two scenarios that I still can't beat the CPC on.

Kill Sterner Regnix.

Green screen Laser Squad is just as clear and just as totally addictive.

Graphics 85% P. Clear, detailed maps. P. Instantly understandable screens.

Sonics 30% N. Poor sound effects and no music.

Grab Factor 94% P. Tooling up is fun... p. ...but using it's even better!

Staying Power 96% P. Up to five different war zones to visit. P. Learn the tactics, win the war.

Overall 91% P. Detailed and intriguing one-on-one wargame. P. When two friends go to war - fun is all that you can score!

Trenton Webb