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During the Clone Wars, the human Federation needed a crack commando unit - a carefully-selected corp of genetically-altered soldiers. A Suicide Squad. The Oblierators were created.

It's now eight years later, and now a single Obliterator survives. One man to face a deadly peril.

A loosely-allied confederation of hideously-advanced alien civilisation from the Galactic Core - angered by federation 'coercion' - has sent a lone Starship against the entire human Obilterator mission to be beamed, using an untested matter transporter, aboard the alien ship in a last-ditch attempt to save humanity.

As is to be expected from Psygnosis, the game comes on two disks and is impeccably presented. There's a beautifully Roger Dean poster, depicting a scene reminiscent of Aliens and four title screens to admire as the game loads. The controls are similar to Barbarian, last year's game from Psygnosis, and costs of a strip of icons across the base of the screen, accessed by mouse.

The game plays very nicely. It's far easier to play than Barbarian was, and even provides a save game option, should you find a Medic unit.

The graphics are excellent, detailed and varied - both for the elaborate and convincing backdrops and for the huge collection of aliens. These come in many forms - including one which crawls across the ceiling, one which drops glowing spheres that break open to reveal crab-like progency as well as several mounted on robotic horses and which fire missiles at you.

Obliterator shows great attention to detail - I especially liked the idea of having lasers concealed in the walls - and great variety. However, there's little to do except blast large numbers of thingies, and it plays very slowly. Thus, adventurers should steer clear - as should arcade fanatics looking for a fast thrill. I fear Obliterator will appeal only to map-makers.

Obliterator is technically excellent, while managing to be brilliantly unplayable.