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It's a strange Universe, isn't it? One minute it seems that man is the only intelligent form of life in existence, the next minute there are millions of alien life-forms swarming all over the place hellbent on destroying him. Well, this is the case here anyway. A dastardly crew of aliens have come from nobody knows, but their numerous craft have begun to land on Regulus, one of the more remote of man's new colony planets. Now this isn't cricket, after all, Regulus is completely undefended, apart from one tiny little spaceship called the Light Force - ready to kick those aliens back to whatever slimy part of the galaxy they came from.

Regulus is a vertically scrolling world which is split into four different areas, each swarming with alien spaceships and ground installations. The emplacements are harmless to the Light Force and provide cannon fodder for a trigger-happy pilot (if groups of installations are destroyed, bonus points are given). However, the flying aliens are far more dangerous and contact with them, or any one of the many missiles they spew forth, spells certain death for the Light Force pilot. Luckily there's a back-up of four other craft to rely on, and even more can be gained by destroying a number of control centres.

The Light Force is quite a nifty little number and can adjust both its longitudinal and lateral position within its full-screen limitation. The ship can also fire bullets, handy for getting rid of the zillions of aliens which are rip-roaring around the place. Later on in the game it is possible to add to your armoury and to pick up a shield which, upon activation, destroys every alien in sight. The aliens vary in size and shape, and some take more shots to kill than others, but they're all united by one intent and purpose: to bring an end to your do-goodery. Consequently, the more aliens you destroy, the more riled and vicious they become.

The four areas of Regulus have to be patrolled one after the other, each area being a certain distance long. Travel right through an area and you'll be given a status report and a scoring bonus before being whisked away to the next patrol area.

The first patrol run takes place in the space system immediately adjacent to the Regulus system - safely make your way through that and you'll be transported down to the Regulus planet surface, where you must fly over land masses and the electric seas to complete the mission. The following patrol takes place over the space stations which orbit the planet, and after that it's another planetfall trip down to the surface.

When the fourth and final mission is completed, it's back to patrol the first... those horrible aliens never give up you see, and you'll just have to keep making patrol runs to keep them at bay!

What a superb shoot-'em-up! Light Force is very fast and *very* playable. The graphics are large, colourful and very well defined, especially the unusual but effective explosions.

The soundtrack is exceptional and suits the game perfectly. In fact, I would go so far as to say it makes the game!

Light Force would have been brilliant if there were more levels or it got significantly harder the second time round, but even so I didn't find it too repetitive and kept coming back for "just one more game".

Definitely one for the collection.

The problem with vertically scrolling shoot-'em-ups is the playing area, which is considerably restricted by the size of the Commodore's 25 character-high screen. However, the relatively small size of the playing area doesn't seem to affect the playability of Light Force.

Surprising really, as the aliens are rather large and occasionally leave little room to manoeuvre. The graphics are, on the whole, clear and well defined, and the attention to detail is impressive, for example: the water rippling when a bridge is destroyed.

I do feel that the use of colour is a little on the bland side though. The spot effects are good, and the soundtrack is beautiful; once again Rob has excelled himself. Light Force isn't startlingly original, and there are only four different levels, but it's great fun to play and worth the asking price if you want a decent shoot-'em-up.

Ah! A really decent shoot-'em-up - something we haven't had for a number of months. It's got all the ingredients of a great game - it's fast, addictive, playable and exhilarating to play.

The graphics are neat with plenty of colour, and the alien craft whizz about the screen at high speed. The soundtrack really works well too, adding to the already frantic pace. The only drawback is that the game has only four areas to patrol - things don't get much harder after you've wrapped around to the first screen again, so once you've mastered all four levels you should be able to keep on playing and playing.

This drawback aside, Light Force is still a great shoot-'em-up, and the four levels take quite a bit of mastering! Give it a go if you're trigger happy.

Presentation 92%
Keyboard or joystick option, attractive title sccreen and a highly original high-score table.

Graphics 88%
Colourful and smooth sprites, imaginative and well-drawn backdrops.

Sound 97%
An atmospheric Rob Hubbard tune complements the pace of the game.

Hookability 94%
No brainwork required to get into this simple blaster.

Lastability 82%
Plenty of blasting action to keep you enthralled.

Value For Money 85%
Not overly expensive for what's on offer.

Overall 87%
A must for shoot-'em-up addicts.