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It's been a year or so since I played a new, really good shoot-'em-up on the Spectrum. The last one that really made the grade was Monument Microgames' Genesis: Dawn Of A New Day (Spectrum 128K only), but, coming from the craftsmanship of "Climacus", I had a feeling even as it was loading that Retro Force might be something special.

And so it proved. This may well be one of the best monochrome space blasters ever written and, from someone who has played everything from Players' Tomcat to Cronosoft's Super Starship Space Attack, I'm acutely aware of how easy it is to not only get such a game right, but also how to get it wrong.

First of all, this is one of those games which comes in two versions - a 48K version and a 128K version. For the purposes of this review I'm waxing lyrical about the 128K version. The 48K is basically the same, but doesn't have all the music and sound effects of its brother. Considering most people do their Spectrum gaming via emulation these days, I think it's preferable to concentrate on the version I think they'll choose - and I don't think they would choose the cut-down version. If you buy a physical copy from Matra, then you'll get the versions on opposite sites of the cassette.

The aim of Retro Force is to traverse 24 "sectors" (levels), avoiding or blasting the aliens and finally despatching the big boss Guardian Ship at the end of each one. The game is a conversion of the old arcade game Mega Force and sticks to that game's Unique Selling Points which are as follows: (a) if you collide with an alien head on, you'll explode and lose a life, but (b) if you are shot by an alien, you'll just lose an energy point and (c) winning each sector is not just a question of making it to the end. You also need to destroy as many of the land-based 'fortifications' as you can and certainly more than the target number you have been set. This target number is displayed prominently screen-right and decreases each time you do manage to take one of the fortifications out. If you make it to the end of the sector but without fulfilling your quota of carnage then you'll have to do it over.

It's all very lively and very noisy but what's quite neat about the game is that it smooths almost unbelievably smoothly and, unlike some other monochrome shooters, it's not too hard to pick out the bullets as they travel across deep space. Even when they're in front of the backgrounds. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that this is going to make it extremely popular with those Spec-chums who love a good shoot-'em-up!

Controls are left, right, up, down and fire and, although your weapon is relatively puny, destroying some aliens does allow you the chance to collect a power-up which may give you either a better gun, or destroy everything on the ground or in the air. There's a nice piece of music on the title screen and between plays too, helping to ratchet up the gaming experience. Even though the scrolling did flicker slightly (I was playing using ZX Spin), the game didn't feel unfair or frustrating. In fact, the only real disappointment here was its rather pitiful loading screen.

This is the second game from Climacus that I have really enjoyed (The first was Request In Peace, also released physically by Matra). The programming shows real skill, with no fluxation at all, even when a scrolling screen is teeming with enemies. Hand on heart, I really can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't snap up your own copy of this immediately. It's a superlative piece of programming and one of the best monochrome space blasters ever written. Yes, I know I've already said that last bit once before but it's worth repeating when a game is this good.