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The first thing that strikes you about Star Drifter is the sophisticated loader complete with twinkling stars. The game allows you to define the keys you wish to use to move around, fire and pick up or drop objects. Other options include sound on or off to spare the rest of the family, and freeze/restart, which I always find useful to rest my aching fingers.

This is the latest in the current vogue for graphics adventures. Set in a maze of passages on board an ancient starship, your task is to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the other members of the fleet. The walls of the passages are covered with strange equipment and messages, not unlike Egyptian hieroglyphics.

You soon find that you are not the only creature on board the ship, which is filled with a variety of small, colourful and deadly alien lifeforms, each of which will try to rob you of your vital oxygen supply. When you've picked up the gun you can gain points for zapping them as you travel round the ship.

The graphics are nicely done, as good on a colour TV as a black and white one. The spaceman moves fast and smooth, though it must be said that he slows somewhat when the screen is full of agitated aliens.

Some of the passages are blocked by walls which can be blasted, and others by force fields which repel you unless you are carrying the correct two keys.

Only three objects at a time can be carried, and the instructions suggest that you should start by returning the radio to the bridge to enable communication with Earth.

The limiting factors are three lives and the oxygen supply, so to solve this game you'll have to keep very busy.

Star Drifter needs more thought than most space action games, and it should help bridge the gap between these and text adventures. All in all I quite liked it, even if I didn't get very far. It's well written and the package has been well produced.

Nick Rhodes