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Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of a complete maniac hell-bent on the destruction of large sections of the Universe. Your mission is simple - to boldly go on a five year mission to seek out strange new worlds and civilizations... and blow them to smithereens.

One or two players can partake in this world-shattering action, with both piloting a moderately equipped delta-winged ship. At the start of an attack wave extra equipment, including missiles, extra speed, rotate motors, shields and (thankfully) extra lives are picked up and automatically added to the ship. Care must be taken, however, as small comets frequently inhabit this mass of useful debris and collision with such a heavenly body is fatal.

Suitably swathed in death-dealing weaponry, the mission proper begins. Moons and planets come whizzing out of the swirling starfield straight towards the ship. The on-board lasers can deal instant death to a smaller item, but let a moon hang around too long and it transforms in size, from moon to Mega Callisto and then to Mega Krypton, which is far more difficult to destroy. After many laser hits, these large bodies start to glow and go into a frenzy, zooming around the screen at a horrendous rate of knots, all the time homing in on your ship. If missiles have been collected, they automatically fire upon the moon when it reaches the height of its activity, blowing it up. If not, only some extremely fancy flying keeps your ship in one piece.

As you progress through the rounds, completing a level is occasionally rewarded by a visit from a Mega Xothopian - a colossal planet intnt on your demise. These are dealt with in a similar fashion to Mega Kryptons, but take more hits to destroy and are even more agitated in their orbits.

Mega-Apocalypse supports one and two player modes, whereby both ships appear on screen at the same time, with both scores being kept separately for addition to the extensive high-score table at the end of the game.

If all the intensive joystick waggling becomes too much, you can always relax in front of the "star mode" which shows off the spinning starfield to the best of its capabilities.

Simon Nichol has done a marvellous job in updating Crazy Comets, adding extra features and playability where it scarcely seemed possible. The music and speech are especially notable, adding an extra dimension to the excitement already offered by the graphics and gameplay - stirring stuff indeed.

This has to be one of the most frantically paced games I've ever played - even the addition of a second player on-screen does little to ease the task of planet destruction.

Mega-Apocalypse is one of the few games which had me actually practising and striving to get better... there can hardly be a higher recommendation than that.

According to the dictionary, an apocalypse is a prophetic revelation. Well, the arrival of Simon Nichol's game has been prophesised for some months now, and playing the game is certainly an enlightening experience!

Mega-Apocalypse is a real high-energy shoot-'em-up, boasting some of the most rapid and chaotic action to be seen on a C64 for some time. Mr Nichol has done a marvellous job, and the game's technical achievements are so well implemented that you almost take them for granted.

The spinning starfield is superb, and a joy to watch in the "incomniac's star mode". The music, speech and sound effects also play a large part, especially the latter two, which are nothing short of excellent, and really add to the atmosphere.

If there are any owners of Crazy Comets wondering if it's worth buying Mega-Apocalypse, don't worry - it's in a class of its own and has more than enough innovations to justify its purchase.

Get ready to freak out, and take on some rather crazy heavenly bodies! Mega-Apocalypse is one of the fastest and most colourful shoot-'em-ups around.

Simon Nichol has taken the basic idea of Crazy Comets and improved the gameplay, graphics and sound immensely. The new aspects of gameplay include features which are collected and added on to the ship at the start of a wave, including the ability to rotate, homing missiles and a speed-up feature.

There's also a simultaneous two-player mode and a new giant mega-comet which bands about the screen at an amazing speed. The spinning star-field that forms the backdrop is absolutely stunning, and the animation on the planets is great.

The sampled sound effects and speech are incredibly clear, and don't interfere in any way with the excellent Rob Hubbard soundtrack. Mega-Apocalypse is a shoot-'em-up par excellence - watch out for it.

Presentation 93%
Good options with one and two player modes and a superlative high-score table.

Graphics 92%
Stunning starfield with lovely spinning planets and great spaceships.

Sound 96%
Superb Hubbard soundtrack and the sampled speech and sound effects are an inspired addition.

Hookability 84%
The first few missions probably won't last that long, but urge to continue is strong.

Lastability 89%
The game throws down a challenge which is too strong to ignore.

Overall 90%
One of the better shoot-'em-ups this year - and one of the most polished programs ever.