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Look out!! The mutant Quargs from the planet Zarcon have amassed a battle fleet and now they're out to conquer the Earth!! Actually the scenario for Quartz, Paul Shirley's first foray into the 16-bit market reads nothing like that at all.

Quartz is a progressive shoot-'em-up and carrying on the tradition of Shirley's earlier efforts Confuzion and Spindizzy, there's no plot to speak of. Instead the player is dropped right in the thick of things with just one order - kill everything!

The gameplay draws its inspiration from just about every shoot-'em-up game you can name - Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaxians and, more recently, Parallax, Xenon, Nemesis and R-Type among others, upgrading and tweaking the elements 'borrowed' from each and bundling them together in one package.

Shoot-'em-ups these days are two-a-penny. Original shoot-'em-ups are a lot harder to come by, and *good* original shoot-'em-ups are ever rarer, which is why Quartz is like the proverbial breath of fresh air.

At last, a blaster where the action isn't restricted to just one theme or gameplay style. There's a tremendous amount of variety provided by the different sections and this helps to sustain the lasting interest way beyond the average shoot-'em-up.

The most clever thing about it is the way in which the five 'separate' game types are linked together by one core element - the neutrinos. The collection of neutrinos is essential to survival, and a little game in itself - a balance has to be struct between the three colours in order to qualify for an extra weapon, and this provides a tactical element.

It's tough - but don't let that put you off. It's well worth persevering, even if the action does seem initially too hot to handle. Bob Stevenson's exquisite graphics enhance the package considerably - the parallax scrolling that's present throughout the game is the most effective seen in a long while, and many of the sprites border on coin-op quality.

Add to that a thumping good Wally 'Hagar' Beben soundtrack to get the pulse racing and you get got one of the best looking, best sounding and most playable blasters to date.