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Styx is an excellent version of Phoenix for the Oric with some added ideas that make it an extremely good game.

You have the usual familiar controls of left, right and fire as wave after wave of aliens drift down on you to be blasted out of the sky. There are four screens of shoot-'em-up action, the first three of which have aliens swooping down on you and the fourth in which you have to attack the Castle of Hell guarding the river Styx.

The first three waves are made up of purple eagles, red goblins and yellow devil's eyes. These can all release bombs and drop floating mines.

If they're allowed to pass you, the mines will move along beneath you poking a spike up between the gaps in the screen base. Contact is fatal of course. The dying act of an alien is often to release a mine so you should follow up with a quick second shot and deal with that as well. The other way to deal with mines is to shoot a large green vulture which removes all the existing mines.

The devil's eyes cause real problems because they blink on and off so that they are tough to track. All of the creatures move rapidly and since you can shoot only one bullet at a time, accuracy is at a premium.

If you survive, you are faced with the castle which hovers in the air on its rock base. You have to break through the base and this is far from easy since many shots are needed. Meanwhile, you are continually harassed by eagles and mines. Success will bring a fantastic explosion with the beautiful castle disappearing into a myriad of glittering pieces.

The action is certainly fast and furious and you'll need a really good eye to win. The graphics are terrific and the zappy sound effects are a treat.

Small, bright graphics adorn the screen in this game, as you zap your way through the levels. I did, however, find it rather difficult to distinguish the bullets fired by your opponents from the beautifully starry background.

Rather run of the mill spaceships and base, but an interesting fight at the end where you have to destroy the brightly coloured castle to defeat the enemy.

Reasonable fun to play, but I don't think Styx will maintain your long-term interest.

Very enjoyable, this Gallic shoot-'em-up. They don't make 'em like this any more over here, and more's the pity. Mean, colourful aliens, loud sound effects and fast action gave me one of the best zaps I've had for ages.

And those floating mines are very nasty...

This game certainly gets a big round zero for novelty, but I reckon it deserves 10 out of 10 for playability. In fact, maybe it's just a tiny bit too playable - on my first go I notched up 23,500 with no sweat... Still, I suppose the hi-score boys will go ape over it.