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You'd have to have been adrift in space devoid of all human contact not to have heard of Robot 1 In The Ship Of Doom, right? Mat Recardo's fast-and-furious "Jet Set Willy-style" game garnered so much praise on its initial release that not one but two publishers snapped up the rights to make physical versions of it. So if you've missed it so far, you have the choice of downloading it for free, buying it for £3.99 from Psytronik or buying it for £12.00 from Bum Fun). All three versions are identical and the only difference between the 48K and 128K versions is that the 128K one benefits from a thumping bass beat from Sergey Kosov.

As you might garner from the name, you take control of Robot 1. The impending "doom" your spaceship faces is in the form of the sun. It's on a collision course you see, and the only route of escape is the teleport chamber, which is handily located just to the right of your start position. However, you can't just haul your little robot butt into it and escape your fate. It will only work once you've collected up the four teleport keys, and they're scattered about the derelict spaceship. So before you're going anywhere, you're going to have to explore the whole ship, find them and then get back to the teleport chamber.

I've mentioned Jet Set Willy in this review already because I'm really convinced that the reason this game has proven so popular is because it modernises all the elements from that Spectrum classic. If you can picture Jet Set Willy where Willy didn't amble around his mansion so much as power-walk, and where Willy's bed was replaced by a teleportation chamber, you've basically imagined Ship Of Doom. Even some of the rooms and platforms have a very "Willyesque" feel to them and I can't help but feel it's not entirely accidental.

However, this isn't to say that, if you're one of those people who hate Jet Set Willy, you should steer well clear. There are a number of differences, in addition to the speed and responsiveness of Robot 1, that really elevate this particular platformer over the myriad of others that spring up almost weekly for the Spectrum.

Firstly, Robot 1 has lives, and a battery pack. One might think that collision with a moving nasty might drain the battery pack and, once depleted, cost Robot 1 one of his five lives. Wrong! Actually, like in JSW, collisions equal instant death (although Robot 1 thankfully doesn't reincarnate you on the spot where you died over and over again). Have you ever seen those eBay adverts for old laptops where the seller disclaims the battery pack with some words like "not guaranteed to hold a charge"? Well, Robot 1 suffers from the same affliction; every 30 seconds or so he needs plugging into the wall until his battery is all topped up. Ignore that blinking power indicator at your peril because, if it reaches zero, that's also instant death.

Now, depending on your point of view, I've saved the biggest revelation about Robot 1 until last... Have you been reading through this review thinking "Look, when I was in my youth, I had the time to wander Willy's great big mansion for five whole hours in real time because I didn't have any responsibilities. But really I don't want to wander a similarly-sized spaceship now. I'll just be bored!"...? Well, if you have, then fret no more, a game of Robot 1 won't last five hours. In fact, it's guaranteed to not last any longer than five minutes. Because, after that, the sun will burn your spaceship to cinders unless you teleport out of harm's way.

Mix all these elements together - thumping bass track, turbo-speed platform action and time limit of five minutes maximum - and you'll probably conclude that Robot 1 is a game which you'll have quite a lot of fun completing. Indeed you will; I managed to complete it on my third go by not hesitating, and hurtling rather recklessly under the patrolling nasties that litter each screen. The control of your robot is excellent and positioning him precariously between two obstacles is therefore a breeze.

Mind you, these same elements do, of course, only make for a very small game. Once you have completed it, it's unlikely to ever get loaded up again. Yet, despite the lack of long-term challenge, in the short term it's not easy.

Overall, a superior platformer that's brilliant fun whilst it lasts. Even though, admittedly, that's not very long.