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All is silent in the Matrix. As your simulated Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle rolls over the glowing, computer-generated checker-board surface on its light-treads, you keep a keen eye out for hostile simulcraft.

Suddenly, a horseshoe-shaped Recogniser surges upward from the void below the grid and spins to face you. With a low hum, a ball of light forms between its pincers and accelerates toward the SRV, slamming into its right flank and shunting it sideways.

A red light on the panel before you indicates a power drain on the right shield. The treads blur as you spin your vehicle right, lining up the Recogniser's headpiece with the cannon sight. You release a rapid volley of six shots and, in a blaze of light, the Reco' disintegrates into its computer polygons.

Deciding that speed is the best defence in this matrix, you spread the SRV's wings and ignite the solid fuel booster. Your craft rises gracefully above the battlescape and you head off, searching for the rogue energy projectors which are transporting deadly computer-generated Simulcraft into the real world.

There are thirty matrices to conquer, all swarming with the computer's simulcraft - opponents fit to challenge the skills of even a champion Simulcra pilot like you. Luckily, your vehicle is specially designed for this type of battle, and most hostile craft yield to a few blasts from your energy cannon. Once destroyed, surface craft and structures, such as the laser towers, leave behind spinning polyhedrons which can be transformed into extra equipment for the SRV - radar scanners, speed-ups, fire-and-forget missiles and variable geometry (swing) wings.

To further protect itself, the computer has thrown up impassable energy barriers which can only be deactivated by destroying the energy projectors creating them. When all of a matrix's projectors are gone, the matrix breaks up and you're transported to the next in the set of five. Once those are conquered it's on to the next scenario, where the computer is constructing even more varied and deadly weapons systems to test your skill...

Well, what can I say? Another Graftgold release - another title to add to the C&VG List Of All-Time Classics. Simulcra combines Battle Zone with Tron to produce a tremendous 3D shoot-'em-up, the like and standard of which I've not seen in years.

The graphics are absolutely superb - glittering explosions, swooping bombers, menacing helicopters sinister-looking tanks, and even the occasional Tron-ship (watch out for the mini Solar Sailors!).

The bright, glowing colours look really beautiful against the empty blackness too and the objects are light-source-coloured with shadows to make them look that little bit more wonderful. Even when the screen is packed with polygons, the game still zips along, and the speed with which the landscape shifts around the SRV is astounding.

The pace of the game makes playing it a totally dextral experience, and all your joystick skills will be called upon when you blunder onto a platform surrounded by six laser towers which promptly train their sights on you and begin blasting your shields off.

The pickups and the flight mode build the basic blasting into something really special, and Simulcra is undoubtedly a game that will keep any ST owner awake way after bed time. Try it and see.