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After the Solar wars, in which the legendary pilot Blood gained notoriety, Saturn was declared centre of System-affairs. Peace has been maintained for a good number of years, due to the growing sportsmanship of all the races in the system.

Once every Saturn year a contest is held between champions from the other eight planets in the Solar System, consisting of four games...

1. Ring Pursuit
   This is a race through the rings of Saturn between two competitors. Not only have you got to watch out for meteorites, you've also got to navigate your way through a treacherous slalom course marked by the wreckage of old spacecraft.
2. Tronic Slider
   A glowing energy ball hovers around a floating arena. You and your opponent fly hover scooters and fire at the energy ball to cause it to split into fragments. Collect these fragments to win. Crashing into your opponent causes him to lose fragments that you can pick-up.
3. Brain Bowler
   The most complex event of the Games. You and your opponent face a Brain Wall, which consists of sparks moving around a circuit. You must fill cells, activate memories and switch gates to guide sparks into the centre brain unit. You win when all the brain sockets have been filled.
4. Time-Jump
   You must wind and unwind your time spring to release sparks.

   Shoot these sparks to give yourself more energy for a Time-Jump. Fire yourself into another dimension and reach further into the unknown than your opponent to win.

Once all the games have been played through to the final, the winner is declared and wins the ultimate Saturn-Day prize - a kiss from the Saturn Queen. Cor blimey.

Too often, when you get a program that gets a lot of attention due to the slickness of the graphics, you find that there is very little gameplay to back them up.

Purple Saturn Day is an exception to the rule - it's excellent! The presentation is very atmospheric - in fact, the way the graphics, sound and presentation work together reminds me very much of that cartoon Battle Of The Planets (anyone remember that?).

However, *potential buyers beware*, this game is very odd! It takes a lot of thought to win on all the games in training, never mind in competition, and if that's not your cup of tea then you'd better try it out first.

Good God, this is a weird game! The first thing that strikes you are the futuristic-yet-surreal graphics, with strange snake-headed aliens and bizarre colours. That's not to say that they're bad - they're very good indeed, from the wonderfully drawn competitor screens to the superb 3D racing effects.

The sound, too, is very good, with a whole host of futuristic effects and tunes. The way the game is presented is very reminiscent of the last Exxos game, Captain Blood, even down to the Gigeresque shading on the aliens - but if something works why not stick with it?

Well, when it comes to Purple Saturn Day, don't stick with your cash, buy it!

Presentation 90%
Brilliant loading screens and generally atmospheric appearance.

Graphics 92%
Wonderfully drawn and animated game graphics and fantastic static screens.

Sound 89%
Somewhat dodgy intro music but very well executed spot effects.

Hookability 80%
Initially very confusing set of arcade/strategy games...

Lastability 89%
...but soon you'll find that you can hardly keep away!

Overall 88%
An excellently presented and playable game - but it won't appeal to everyone.