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Yes, folks. It's time once again for some good old zap and blast. Why communicate with alien life forms when you can incinerate them? The alien command bases are located on land, at sea, on the moon and in space. Your task is to decimate all four.

Play is limited to a narrow window in the middle of the screen, best described as Zaxxon viewed from directly above the ship. This provides you with a bird's eye view of the buildings and weapons which constitute the enemy base.

Your ship, always positioned mid-screen, is allowed to move from side to side in order to avoid buildings. The screen scrolls continuously from right to left or vice versa, depending on which way you are facing. Scenery and enemy forces are drawn using good detail and are animated faultlessly.

You begin your attack from the left of the command base, flying at ground level dodging to each side, shooting tanks and ammo dumps. If you haven't destroyed everything by the time you reach the right of the base your ship flips over automatically and you return to destroy the remaining defences.

The enemy is present in the form of numerous fast moving UFOs which come screaming in trying to ram or shoot you down. Owing to their high speed you cannot wait to see the whites of their eyes before firing. Adopt the age old technique of continual rapid firing whether the enemy are on the screen or not.

While on the subject of the enemy craft, do watch out for the tail gunner. On several occasions I nipped into an alien's slipstream only to receive a laser salvo from its rear end.

An annoying feature is that when your ship is destroyed you are returning to the start and all the enemy tanks and ammo dumps are replaced. This means that the only way you are going to reach screen two is to wipe out the enemy using a single ship. There is no way you are going to achieve this in your first few minutes. The aliens come thick and fast, and their aim is deadly.

Psycastria is a very good arcade game let down by rather difficult play.

James Riddell