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Hello, friend, I'm R2-C64, and I know all about you. How your famous father always wanted you to go into his safe, wealthy profession as a jeweller. How you always wanted to go into space, and finally succeeded by becoming a merchant marine with the Princess Blue. It was a fine ship, but the captain got careless stopping to examine a derelict scout ship.

You were sent in to investigate, but no sooner than you were aboard than ten Manchi ships appeared, reducing the Princess to debris. You're the only survivor and for days now have been letting the scout ship Jolly Roger drift. But you're not dead, and it's time to live on.

The Far Arm galaxy is a massive place consisting of at least eight star systems, linked by wormholes, and over a dozen space stations. You enter the wormholes through cylindrical gates, and they're made up of long tunnels of circles which you must keep inside to stay on target. Travel too slow, however, and constant erosion will rip away your armour.

If you plan vengeance on the insect Manchi, you must first earn lots of cash. Trading is the easiest method, although some goods are perishable and pirates will try to steal them. Alternatively, you might like to go bounty hunting, or even try piracy yourself. But your standing with the Imperium and the Merchant Guild will fall if you start shooting at them, although it might earn you points with the Pirates.

Whichever career you choose, it's essential you know your ship - a Mandenworks Sun-racer currently equipped with one feeble Garnet laser, a single forward shield, minimal armour, a cramped cargo hold, and no ECM. All these, plus the Radionix engine can be upgraded. But to get anywhere you need to go into navigation mode (which takes a short while to load into the main computers). A space map is shown with your ship at the centre. Use keys or joystick to scroll the map around. QWERTY gives data on the cursor position, HELM locks the auto-pilot on. The ship will then move toward the selected position. Unless, of course, it runs into enemy ships...

Selecting COCKPIT gives you an electronic, solid 3D view out of the front of the ship. Or if you prefer, you can have a cinematic view; a view from just behind your spaceship. There's a choice of armaments, from beam weapon to three missile types (if carried), and a gauge showing how much armour you've got left. During combat the critical instrument is TAC (Target Acquisition Computer). When turned on, arrows appear indicating where the enemy is, his capabilities, damage, range, and even a moving picture of the ship. Also, it'll give you a one word description of enemy tactics. There are ten of these, from 'Close' (quick fly-bys for close shots) and 'Follow' (the enemy mimics your movements) to the obvious 'Ram'!

Battles can occur in asteroid storms, cargo-spoiling ion storms, corrosive nebulae which slow you down, and explosive anti-matter shard fields. But at least you can hide behind asteroids. If that doesn't work try jettisoning cargo to move faster.

Should you make it to a space station, you can dock with it. Your perspective then changes to an overhead view with the station scrolling as you move around. Pressing fire gives you the option to talk, inspect objects, and review the status of both yourself and your ship. If you choose to talk, the character will probably introduce himself: you'll then be given the choice of a couple of replies - or alternatively you might like to directly input.

This RPG element of the game includes a Duchess Avenstar who desires a champion to fight against the Black Hand cult - to prove your worth to her you must get a high combat rating. Then there's the pirate Mr. Gut; if you ambush a few merchant ships he might be willing to take you on. On a slightly lesser scale, there's government officials to bribe and a lovesick droid to reunite with its partner (who may have been turned into a dishwasher!)

This is a completely unbelievable product, but I promise you it's not an early April Fool. Firstty, there's the graphics - solid 3D, full colour and fast. There are even options for cinematic and chase views, which has the 'camera' zooming up to and away from your spaceship.

Secondly, there's the gameplay. On top of the Elite-style trading and space battles there's a complete RPG adventure. Small sub-plots such as being offered a job to deliver a microchip to someone, or saying 'Rikbat' to an alien for a behaviour experiment, help create an incredible atmosphere. Then there are the big plots, like proving yourself to the Duchess Avenstar or the pirate Gut.

Thirdly, there's the combat, This is excellent with the ships able to execute all sorts of tactics to keep you baffled. More than that though, there are battles where you ambush a tanker, get in a few shots, and it calls for help: an imperial cruiser promptly drops in to vapourize any under-equipped, would-be pirates. On another occasion I found an alien attacking a pirate, then turning on me as the pirate was destroyed. The detail on ships, their speed and how close they can come - i.e. filling the screen - is incredible. The wormhole effect is also pretty good, and tough too, to compensate for the easy docking procedures.

And finally there's the attention to detail, like the way planets on the map screen actually move around the suns - with their tiny continents rotating all the time. The actual dimensions of the game may not be that big, although other star systems may apparently be discovered.

But in every other way this totally outclasses Elite, and is the best space game for any machine!

I thought Elite could never be beaten as the greatest ever space game, but after playing Space Rogue for hours on end I've changed my mind! There's just so much interaction with other ships and characters, this is a complete space adventure rather than just a trading game. I was amazed by the game's sheer depth with the fascinating sub-plots adding extra realism to the brilliant deep-space atmosphere.

It's a bit of a pain practically reloading the game when you die, but this adds to the realism so that you only go into combat when you're well prepared. The toughness of combat also helps extend the challenge of the game overall. According to Origin it is possible to complete the game in a solid day's play - if you know exactly what to do. But it's the knowing what to do which takes ages, as does mastering the combat, and I foresee many weeks challenge here. And while it may lack the 'infinite' open space of Elite, this game is absolutely crammed with missions and adventures. All the plots and sub-plots come together to make you feel like you're in a SF movie to beat Star Wars. All in all, a wonderful mix of arcade action and RPG adventure.

What a change from the Ultima series this is for Origin! When I heard about Space Rogue, I half expected a reworking of their Ultima style RPGs but in a Sci-Fi setting; indeed this is what I got. And that's no bad thing when you consider how much depth there is to Origin games.

But when you incorporate a technically stunning 3D combat module into the game it just jumps light years ahead of opposition such as Elite (yes, you really will believe a C64 can shift polygon graphics around like nobody's business!).

What I love about this one is the way you interact with other spacecraft. They're not mere targets for your lasers as they exhibit some pretty intelligent attack/evade tendencies and fight back with a real vengeance, even engaging in chit-chat prior to blowing you away!

It's easy to be sceptical about how strong the game is on the RPG front when you consider it's all on one disk but we've been playing it for some time now and the plot lust keeps thickening (and we haven't got round to explore half of the solar systems yet!). A move away from the Ultima range which has paid off in fine style.

An Amiga version is due out in early 1990.

Presentation 97%
Superbly animated loading screen, cartoon-style intro sequence, map of Far Arm Star Cluster, 16-page novella, stiff paper cut-out spaceship models, ship guide, essential save function and C64 keys guide.

Graphics 95%
The vector graphics are very quick, but also solid, beautifully coloured, and superbly detailed. The adventure graphics aren't bad either.

Sound 58%
An effective array of ship engine noises, laser blasts and suchlike.

Hookability 97%
No sooner than you arrive on Hiathra Starbase then you're drawn into one of the superb sub-plots. And the space battles are superb!

Lastability 95%
There aren't that many space stations, but proving yourself in combat is tough and the plots are excellent.

Overall 97%
The ultimate space opera on your C64 with you in the starring role!