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Hey guys, I'm beginning to suffer an advanced case of fire-button finger! This month it seems that the shoot-'em-up is striking back. But then, has it ever really been away? Hades Nebula, Mag Max and now Plasmatron - all action-packed blasters, all released this month, and all for the C64.

I'm about to overdoes on shattered alien spaceships. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...

Meanwhile, back at the game, you find yourself piloting a Plasmatron starfighter on a spy mission. Your task is to check out alien lifeforms on a deserted empire colony.

They said it was going to be a piece of cake, this mission. They said nothing violent would happen. They were telling big porkie pies!

These aliens are hostile. They come at you thick and fast across an extremely attractive scramble-style background. Lots of different aliens and lots of different scrolling 3D-style backgrounds.

The good news is that your Plasmatron is protected by a shield. The bad news is that it gets damaged by collisions with enemy craft and laser fire.

Effectively you only get one life - which is a bit annoying really. You think you're doing well and then suddenly warning bleepers go off and your trusty Plasmatron disintegrates around you.

Keep an eye on your shield level by checking out the "powermeters" situated at the bottom centre of the screen.

Here you'll also see your damage-o-meter, distance to end-of-level plus laser temperature readout.

Learn the movements of the aliens, stay in the centre of the screen to allow yourself more room to move and if your shield gets too low, find a safe place - try the top left hand side of the screen - to take a rest and allow your shield to rebuild itself.

Beware of the aliens that take more than one hit to finish off. There's some nice intro music - ripped off from The Planets - but you have to make do with sound effects while you play.

The worst thing about Plasmatron is the irritatingly long computer controlled take-off sequence at the start of each game. Nice the first couple of times, but boring once you're itching to get blasting.

Plasmatron is a good looking, fairly addictive blaster. It won't knock you back on your heels when you first load it up - but if you're a zap addict you'll enjoy the challenge. Check it out.