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Classic firm, classic coin-op, classic game - that's Star Wars.

There can be very few of you reading this, that have not either seen Star Wars the movie, or played Star Wars the coin-op. Even today, with all the technical and graphical breakthroughs that have been made during the four years since the coin-op appeared, it still remains a classic and is regarded by many as the best game ever to grace an arcade hall.

Now, as the film says, the story continues with the release of Star Wars the computer game.

The first version to be launched (no pun intended) is for the Atari ST, and what a little cracker it is! Who says that vector-graphics are dated?

If you own an ST and loved the coin-op then what are you waiting for? Go out and bag a copy now. If you really haven't played the original, then read on... both of you!

With the Empire's forces closing in for the kill, Luke Skywalker, a young fighter pilot, is the Rebel's only hope of survival. The Empire can only be defeated by destroying the Deathstar, a gigantic man-made planet, which is about to blow the rebel's home planet out of existence.

Although Darth Vader, leader of the Rebel forces, believes the Deathstar to be indestructible, the rebel's computers have unearthed the one weak spot in its design, an exhaust duct leading right to its core.

As Luke Skywalker, your aim is to get a shot at the duct, but first you must annihilate a handful of Empire fighters, destroy the planet's ground-based laser towers and bunkers, and, finally, fly along the heavily-guarded trench that surrounds the Deathstar.

At the end of the trench lies the exhaust port. The Deathstar can only be destroyed by planting a proton torpedo in the port as you zoom over it at high speed while, at the same time, using vast quantities of 'The Force' to avoid laser cannon fire and the horizontal barriers that lie in your path.

Miss your target, and you are faced with the unenviable task of staying alive for a second complete circuit of the Deathstar before getting another shot at the port. If you hit the spot, however, you can sit back and enjoy the sight of the Deathstar exploding into a thousand little bits, and then it's back to base for another bout of Empire bashing before tea.

Throughout, the game has been well coded, with great attention to detail. Consequently, it captures the frenetic mood and perfect playability of the original right down to the digitised speech and sounds in all the right places.

The sad thing about Star Wars is the disappointment of the 8-bit versions.

The C64 version gets close to it but fails to really simulate the feel on the coin-op. Sure, this is probably in part due to the sluggishness of the C64 in producing 3D vector graphics - *but* however you cut it, Star Wars is not going to rank as one of the C64's best coin-op conversions this year.

The Spectrum version is much better - benefitting from the superiority of the Spectrum in generating fast 3D routines. Somehow, from Star Glider to Alien Highway, the Speccy licks the hell out of the C64 on fast 3D games. Star Wars Spectrum version reflects this. On the minus side, as far as Speccy is concerned, the sound effects are virtually non-existent - which is a great shame.

Star Wars the computer game will be a hit with fans of the film, the coin-op, and fast action arcades. In other words, everybody.