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The inhabitants of the planet Nemesis are under attack from the forces of Bacterion. You command a protecting squadron of three space fighters in a brave attempt to destroy the invading fleet. To succeed in your mission you must pass successfully through four sections - forest, space islands, an alien graveyard and the interior of a Bacterion battle cruiser. The Mother Ship at each section's end must be destroyed before you and your squadron can pass onto the next.

Your craft flys up, down backwards or forwards. As your space craft progresses through each section you come under attack from Bacterion craft, surface walking tanks and cavern emplacements. A direct hit from an alien ship or missile causes the loss of one of your three ships.

For initial protection your craft carries only a cannon, but as opposing attackers are destroyed, illuminated credits are occasionally released for collection. Each successive credit gives an increasingly powerful additional feature - extra speed, air-to-ground missiles, double (a cannon enhancement), laser, multiple fire unit and a defensive shield. As this is done an appropriate icon is illuminated at the base of the screen. Up to four speed bursts and air to ground missiles, two multiple fire units, a single shield and either lasers or double air-to-ground missiles can be carried. When a feature has been added to the space ship's armoury the icon becomes inessential. When a ship is lost all the features that it has gathered have to be collected once again.

Control Keys: definable, up/down, left/right, fire and select required
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour: fairly colourful, some clashes but not serious
Graphics: small with adequate detail
Sound: average title tune, good spot FX
Skill levels: one
Screens: scrolling play area over five levels

'This is a disappointment, but having seen Konami's Jail Break, I'm thankful that it's not totally abysmal. The presentation is awful, response to keyboard input on the title screens is much too slow and the redefine key option leaves a lot to be desired. The gameplay is laughably different to that of the Arcade original, this is a shame as the feeling of the machine has not been captured in the Spectrum version. Without this feel, Nemesis is just another shoot 'em up and for near eight quid not a cheap one.'

'Nemesis had the sort of appeal in the arcades that cost a lot of people a lot of ten pence pieces. However, the Specm conversion seems to have lost all the appeal of its big brother, and its lack of playability loses any of the original's addictiveness. The ship is very unresponsive to quick key presses, and collision detection is very suspect. The visual effect is ruined by the stupid scrolling stars in the background - they are very hard to distinguish from the bullets.'

'Gosh... Transmuter's twin brother! Nemesis however, is a touch less playable than its cheaper rival. It's a pity that this conversion by Konami is so poor, as the arcade original was both fun and addictive. The graphics are reasonably good, the backgrounds and enemy craft are nicely designed and animated, but it's a pity that your ship flickers so much. Essentially, the game is no more than an overly difficult. overpriced and mostly unplayable shoot 'em up.'