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The Wanglers are very antischool. In fact they're so against the system that they are campaigning for less lessons and more free time. However, the Emperor takes a very dim view of this, and has taken serious steps to cut down on this type of insubordination by arresting Brains, the Wangler's leader. Poor old Brains has been locked up in Terminus, the most impregnable prison in the galaxy.

Brains' colleagues decide that he must be rescued from the prison so that their quest can continue. They set out for the prison in order to help their friend.

There are tour friends altogether and each one has his own special talent which he can put to good use in attempting to release their leader. Each of them has a protective suit which shields them from the force-fields and other perils which await them. However, these only work if their batteries are fully charged. The energy level for each character's suit is shown at the top of the main screen. The control panel also shows how much thrust energy and lasers they have left. When any of these levels reach zero, then that particular character perishes, and the others have to carry on without him.

Mobod and Kann move by flying. However, once their thrust energy drops off, they have to find somewhere to recharge before they can become airborne again. Magno is a cat burglar, although he doesn't look like one. His main talent is being able to stick to ceilings In order to avoid traps. Spex does possess legs, but he prefers to bounce everywhere for some odd reason. You can only control one of these characters at a time, but they can be called in to action at any time as long as you're on a teleport pad.

Control keys: different for each character. Mobod and Xann: Q fly up, M laser fire, O left, P right. Magna: Q fly up, M laser fire, O left, P right, A detach. Spex: Q increase bounce. A decrease bounce, O left, P right. M fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: a riot of colour
Graphics: detailed
Sound: a few spot effects
Skill levels: one
Screens: 512

'The game is very similar to Tantalus but it isn't really as playable or as addictive, as it takes a long time to get into. Graphically I can see a lot of people really hating this as there is almost too much colour, I like it as there isn't any colour clash and there is a lot of detail. The sound is a bit on the lame side, no tunes and only a few spot effects. I think that this will only really appeal to Tantalus tans as it doesn't really offer much to the arcade player'

'Terminus contains nothing much more than Tantalus did. The game is immediately attractive. As with Tantalus, the screen is jam packed with pixels, all them full of colour a detail. But the game itself doesn't have much substance. The idea of controlling different characters is nothing new in arcade adventures, but, seems to work well and is one of Terminus's good points. Terminus features some nice touches; like the dissolving walls and different bullets - but I didn't really like the game as a whole very much'

'Golly! It's Tantalus with new sprites! I didn't like that program, and I don't like this. All the main characters have really awful control methods which makes the game frustrating from the very beginning. It's even more frustrating trying to work out where to go and there isn't much in the way of dues to help. The graphics are rice, but rather superficial and they don't really interact with the game in any way. If you liked Tantalus I suppose you'd like this, but personally I prefer more arcade action and more adventure in my arcade adventures.'