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Terra Cresta is the follow-up to the arcade game Moon Cresta. In the sequel, the action continues over a vertically scrolling landscape, dotted with deadly alien ground installations which shoot at the fighter under your control. Alien craft zoom in from the top and sides of the screen firing missiles and attempting to crash into your ship. Ground-based targets include missile-spitting dinosaurs, spinning radar stations and carbuncular lumps which spew forth missiles. Five numbered targets on the terrain provide a bolt-on module and extra firepower when destroyed. Taking out the last numbered target confers temporary invincibility.

After collecting additional firepower, the ship can go into "formation mode" - by pressing the space bar, the Terra Cresta splits up into modules and shoots an arc of laser fire instead of single, narrow pulses. This mode of operaion is temporary, and can only be used three times for each extra piece added to the ship.

A large robot concludes a circuit through the landscape. Repeated hits destroy the first two robots encountered, but third time around, you confront a mechanoid that can only be disposed of by a fully armed Terra Cresta fighter, equipped with all five pieces of extra weaponry acquired en route.

I like a decent shoot-'em-up but I'm not too keen on Terra Cresta - it's so frustrating. It's fast, furious and unfair. If you blast an alien at the top of the screen it doesn't die, but it can sure as hell blow you away.

Worse still, when you die you are put right back at the start - very annoying. The graphics are well defined and everything moves very smoothly, but the noise made when your craft fires sounds like someone with whooping cough!

If you are willing persevere there's fun to be hand from this game.

Terra Cresta isn't a particularly bad game, but it doesn't hold interest for more than a couple of hours. It's very much a pattern game and the landscape is quite short - it doesn't take long before you reach the fat robot and it seems to start all over again.

Consequently you can get to know the game inside-out after a few goes and it all gets very predictable. The background graphics are very unclear and lack crispness - the same goes for the sprites. The sound effects aren't wonderful, but the title screen and high-score tunes aren't bad at all.

Not the best vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up available, but it's certainly not the worst.

Vertically scrolling shoot-'em-ups seem to be the "in-thing" at the moment, what with five games of a similar theme being released within the space of a few weeks!

Terra Cresta isn't the worst of the bunch - it's marginally superior to 1942, and a lot better than 1943 or Xevious. But it's still nothing special. The graphics are reasonable - adequately drawn but unimaginatively coloured (no doubt in keeping with the arcade original).

The title screen music is rather good, but a monotonous and highly irritating tune plays during the game. The most annoying thing about Terra Cresta though is having to restart at the beginning of a landscape when you die. This is most infuriating, especially when you get quite far!

I wouldn't bother rushing out to buy Terra Cresta - you're not missing much.

Presentation 66%
Simple in-game presentation, sufficient instructions and a high-score table.

Graphics 59%
Simple sprites and backdrops. Garish colour schemes.

Sound 79%
Good title screen tune, irritating in-game soundtrack and spot FX though.

Hookability 68%
Straightforward shoot-'em-up action, but rather frustrating and not particularly compulsive.

Lastability 49%
The fun is short-lived - but good while it lasts.

Value For Money 53%
Cheaper and better than most shoot-'em-ups of this type.

Overall 56%
A mediocre addition to the growing range of vertically scrolling shoot-'em-ups.