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You are summoned to mission control and told to go out into space and destroy an asteroid on collision course with Earth!

The catastrophe is due to happen at 7:15pm, and as you start, your watch tells you that the time is midday. You have your work cut out making your way through the Mission Control building, getting briefed, learning your flight plan, collecting the supplies you will need, and generally making sure you are fit and healthy for the task ahead.

The game has graphics which occupy all the screen, bar the five lines forming a text window at the bottom, but previous messages can be seen by pressing RETURN, which will flip the picture on and off.

The graphics are quite pleasant, without being spectacular. Unfortunately, they cannot be turned off completely, and so the delay while they are read in from disk is inevitable even on replays.

The player's input is limited to one and two-word commands, and although this is quite acceptable as a method, more intelligence and a wider vocabulary would have enhanced the game considerably.

It is quite fun learning to pilot the rocket, and providing you take the sort of precautions every astronaut should take when entering and leaving his craft, all should go fairly smoothly until you actually come to grips with the essential part of your mission.

Then the thinking must begin, for if you are to blow the asteroid up, it must be done not only before it reaches the earth, but preferably with you out of range of the blast.

Here is an unassuming adventure, ideal for the beginner.