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The Russians have been at it again! A Soviet missile attack has been launched at the cities of the United States. The whole of the Western World faces obliteration unless you, as controller of the last fighter squadron, can penetrate the Russian defences and stop the attack. This is the delight awaiting you in US Gold's Raid Over Moscow.

Initially the screen shows a world map just as the rockets leave their launch pads somewhere in the USSR. You must immediately enter an orbiting space station to launch your fighters.

Actually launching a plane is a lot easier said than done as the normal laws of earth gravity do not apply here.

Once you start a plane moving the only way to stop it is to turn through 180 degrees and fire your thrusters - not for too long though, or you start to drift back the other way. Until you become experienced in this, the planes lurch drunkenly around the hangar and launching one becomes a game in itself!

When launched, you have to fly along slalom fashion through Soviet airspace avoiding the various obstacles and the enemy planes. This continues until you reach the Soviet missile silos which must be destroyed before you can get at your main objective - the Soviet defence centre. As you may expect, this is heavily protected by guards and tanks. If you manage to overcome these then you finally reach the Soviet nuclear reactor, guarded by killer robots, or course! Destruction of this will stop the missiles which, even as you play, have been advancing on their targets.

The whole game is played in real time and you only have about 5 to 7 minutes to stop the attack.

If all this sounds difficult, well believe me it is. Raid Over Moscow is one of the most challenging games I have seen for the BBC Micro in a long time. This, added to the superb three-dimensional multi-screen graphics, produces a first-class game.