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UNLEASH YOUR LLAMAS ON SINISTER SPIDER MENACE

META-GALACTIC Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time, from Salamander Software, is a reasonably simple game with an extremely long and inventive name. Like the name, the game, for the 48K Spectrum, is inventive and its simplicity it deceptive. You will find that as soon as you start playing you are hooked.

The hero is an alien llama which destroys swarms of creatures which look like spiders, as they absail lengths of web ready to kill you if you touch them.

When you fire at the spiders your laser bolts will bounce off a force field at the top of the screen. You can lower the field as the spiders descend so that you can find the correct angle for the shot. If you hit a spider's web-cable the creature will fall and turn into a worm which tracks you along the ground. If it touches you one of your llama lives will be lost. The skill involved in the game is to hit the spiders while they are still in the air.

Once you have passed a level you can proceed to the next which is faster and contains more spiders. If you are feeling really masochistic you could start at a more advanced level.

Meta-Galactic Llamas is a Jeff Minter game and as such was meant originally for the Commodore computers.

For that reason the game is not so good as the original. It is still, however, a very impressive game although the graphics are not stunning and the sound is nothing to rave about. Minter, with the help of programmer Chris Clark, has gone for originality and addiction instead of the things which usually make a good Spectrum game.

Memory: 48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Programmable