'Compelling... exciting... full hi-res colour graphics and superb sound' reads the hype on the package. Unfortunately, Starship Escape can't live up to this.

The graphics are of the kind found in maze games, and the characters depicted are absolutely tiny.

You use the joystick or keyboard to move around inside an alien ship into which you have been attracted by a 'Force Cloud Entity'.

This has dismantled your craft and put the bits in various rooms within the spaceship.

You now travel from room to room retrieving the pieces. These you take back one at a time to the airlock.

If successful, you reassemble your ship and escape.

Of course, you never had a chance of doing this peacefully... assorted armies of aliens attack, driving you back to the airlock.

You have a laser, but it is of limited 'stopping power'.

You have a faithful friend amid all this turmoil. K9 is found in a random location, and brush past him and he'll accompany you on your travels.

His value is his magnetic personality! Hit f1 and he attracts all the aliens in the room towards him, leaving you free to pick up the bits in the room.

Two functions called 'time stop' and 'map' let you pause the game for a breather and show you where you are.

The game is tough going even at the lowest of the four levels of difficulty. It would be greatly improved if the very bare rooms were redecorated with more elaborate graphics.