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The two engineers who programmed this game are said to have spent seven months full-time work on it. It shows. Psytron is one of the most ambitious and intricate games yet seen on a micro.

The Psytron is a super-computer which you use to run an advanced space station. The first thing you'll like about the game is the way the colony is drawn, From your position in the centre of it, you can look out in ten different directions (just press a key 0-9). Each of these ten views is an imaginative, high-resolution drawing showing such things as fuel tanks, the medical unit, the pleasure dome, etc.

The colony of course is under attack, your job is to save it. But the eventual skills required are so complex that the program sensibly introduces their to you one element at a time, by taking you through five training levels before you can begin the real battle.

In level one you have to destroy alien saboteurs which are being dropped into the colony. This involves using a service droid to chase them through the main circular corridor. A small panel on the bottom right of the screen gives you a nice 3D view of the action.

Level two is a good deal more difficult. It's a 3D shoot-'em-up in which your aim is to destroy the spinning alien ships as they zoom in to drop bombs on your base. What makes it difficult is that you have to keep them at bay on all ten different screens at once. Your only hope of avoiding serious damage is to learn which of the attackers are most dangerous and concentrate on them. The programme documentation, which takes the form of a large, beautifully produced booklet, could have been more helpful on this point.

In level three you must both do the shooting and chase the saboteurs. In levels four and five the strategy element of the game is realized. You can halt the action by going into 'freeze-time' and begin allocating men to carry out repairs and ordering fresh supplies from your mothership.

To get from one level to the next, you must achieve a sequence of five separate scores which average higher than the prescribed pass mark. Once you've done this however, you can save your 'service record' on tape and hence continue from where you left off when you reload the game. Nevertheless it's likely to take many hours of play before you can reach the real battle where your goal is simply to survive as long as possible.

Most games which try to combine arcade action with intricate strategy fail dismally. What makes Psytron special is the fact that its many elements are all linked to each other in a convincing way.

For example, damage to the supply port will hold up supplies, damaged airlocks will hold up the rate of repairs, a bombed freeze-time generator could prevent you entering freeze-time and a hit oxygen or fuel supply would jeopardize the entire colony. You must constantly decide priorities.

The effort needed to take on such a detailed simulation may not appeal to everyone. Players who like a game which gets straight down to furious mega-zapping are unlikely to have the patience for such a complex program.

But for those who want a really meaty, long-term challenge, Psytron is out of this world.