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The official version of the hit arcade game Star Wars is now available on the Commodore 64. This version is not a patch on the original, but bearing in mind its obvious limitations it does prove quite enjoyable to play.

There are three different waves; wave one has you flying around the Deathstar destroying fireballs and shooting down Tie Fighters, while in the second scene you fly across the surface of the Deathstar blasting fireballs and shooting the tops off laser towers. In the final confrontation, you swoop down the trench towards the main reactor port. Hit the port with a proton torpedo and you destroy the Deathstar.

Nine protective shields are supplied for your ship, but one is lost each time a fireball hits you. If you lose all your shields, your ship will break up and the game is over.

The presentation, with mainly black and white characters, follows its arcade counterpart quite closely. Sound effects are convincing and the Star Wars theme plays at the beginning.

Moving on to the higher levels, you will encounter faster moving aliens and catwalks in the trench to make manoeuvering really hard. This is when you really need the 'force' to be with you!

At £25, Star Wars is a very expensive game but if you're a fan of the original it's really worth buying.