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Captain Ford is just another nameless face in the Empire's forces. Sent to reconnotire the once-deserted Empire colony of Loughton II, his mission is to identify the hostile alien forces now ensconsed there. To make matters worse, Ford's exit point is far on the other side of the planet, with the aliens between him and it. His senior officer considers Ford to be expendable - Ford however has other ideas.

Taking the role of Captain Ford, you begin the mission strapped firmly into your space ship 'Plasmatron', taking off from the ruins of a city, with the barren and beaten landscape of Loughton II parallax scrolling from right to left.

A display panel at the bottom of the screen gives information regarding your ship's defences and the estimated time of arrival at the distant exit point, indicated by both bar-meters and digital counters.

Alien attack craft appear from the right, requiring either evasive or destructive action. The Plasmatron's defences are damages by enemy fire, with structural damage occuring when the shields have been reduced to zero. An audible signal is issued warning of the craft's impending destruction, when the shield damage bar reaches the critical yellow and red stages.

Shields are constantly replenished as long as no further hits are received, therefore it is possible to recharge the banks by evading alien attacks.

There are so many shoot-'em-ups on the market nowadays that in order to make a mark, any new release has to be something really special. Plasmatron however is a shoot-'em-up of the most basic kind, with ordinary graphics and a distinct lack of playability.

In fact, there's a feeling of deja-vu about the whole thing, as it contains nothing to set it apart from any number of other releasses. Don't buy it unless you're one of the few computer owners left in the country who hasn't already got a whole range of games of this type.

I was pleasantly surprised by the whole look of Plasmatron. Parallax scrolling is nothing new, but the creatures are fairly original and fire some attractive bolts and puffs of smoke.

The concept is very simple, but it diesn't give an real incentive for the player to have another go. I found the ship to be very sensitive and the control very accurate, but the shoot-'em-up idea has been fairly well covered on the Commodore, and consequently there's very little more that can be said about such a repetitive game.

After playing Plasmatron for a while, the word 'average' springs readily to mind. It's as playable as most shoot-'em-ups, but lacks any improvement over previous games of this type - therefore offering no real reason for its purchase.

The graphics tend toward the gaudy side, although some of the later screens are quite pleasant - especially one which features an asteroid belt and requires some pretty fancy flying.

The parallax is achieved well, but adds nothing to the game as you tend to concentrate on the action rathern than on the graphics. Plasmatron is no more than a competent but uninspiring derivative of a thousand other games.

Presentation 45%
Superfluous launch sequence, and a lack of standard options.

Graphics 68%
Colourful, if occasionally a little garish.

Sound 39%
Poor rendition of 'Mars - Bringer of War' drones along with the title screen.

Hookability 73%
Easy to pick up and play, after all you've seen it all before.

Lastability 52%
The unoriginal gameplay quickly becomes tiresome.

Overall 55%
A barely average attempt at a worn out format.