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The planet of Armageddon, the last world to be destroyed under the rule of the Galactic Federation, is encircled by moons, interconnected by vertically-scrolling Space Roadways.

But the safety mechanisms that regulate the status and safety of the Roadways have gone awry - and electric arcs have formed across them, destroying all they touch.

The Roadways must be cleared, one at a time. Two very manoeuvrable robot droid craft, known as Battlespheres, are to do the job - and you control them.

Both Battlespheres are protected by strong shields which can be drawn back to reveal heavy cannon, and with this weaponry the dark panels which are causing the problem sparks can be destroyed. But if you take out too many of the panels you'll go off the Roadway yourself.

And destructive globes also occupy the heavenly highways: on collision they can destroy a battlesphere with lowered shields, and do some damage even if your shields are up. Spikes in the surface of the Roadways also threaten your vehicle, chevrons can do major damage, and to add to this misery satellites hover at the roadside shooting lasers.

If the battlesphere takes too much damage, the protecting shields are lost and your only hope of survival is quick movement. But to add a little zest to the life of the battlespheres, one can push the other from the roadway to avoid collisions.

You can run over arrows to increase your fire power, but be warned - from a distance they're difficult to distinguish from the spikes. No wonder motorways never get repaired.

Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: good perspective, with little colour
Sound: title tune and poor in-game effects
Options: one or two players

'It's a shame the scrolling of the track isn't smoother, and there are a few problems with the battlesphere's movements - they're responsive, but having four actions (sphere left and right, gun turret left and right) controlled by three keys takes some getting used to. And though the graphics are fine and the idea good, these interplanetary roadways are so long that Roadwars soon gets monotonous - there's nothing to do but shoot up the same nasties on the same track again and again.'

'I was enticed to play by the large, colourful graphics, and though Melbourne House has done an admirable job on the presentation and packaging this Spectrum conversion falls miserably.'