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Come with us on a journey through a black hole. The trip is extremely dangerous - and you might not make it back to planet earth!

Hot on the heels of their War Of The Worlds computer game, CRL have plundered another science fiction favourite. This time it's a bit more modern - based on Gerry Anderon's recent Terrahawks puppet series, screened on independent TV earlier this year.

Once you get past the impressive title screen - a graphics copy of the Terrahawks logo - there seems to be no obvious connection between the TV series and the game at all.

The evil Zelda is nowhere to be found - and even the literature that comes with our copy of the game carried no reference to the weird and wonderful characters featured in the popular tea-time adventure show.

The game itself isn't bad. It's a cross between a flight simulation and a space shoot out. Programmer Richard Taylor has done a precise and workmanlike job. There is an extensive menu which, among other things, enables you to redefine the control keys, play a two-player game or enter your name in the Terrahawks hall of fame.

Once into the game, you are presented with cockpit instrumentation at the bottom of the screen which tells you your weapon and shield status and includes an altimeter and scanner, plus fuel and range gauges.

At the top of the screen you'll see what's going on in the outside world around your spaceship - which I forgot to mention has been sucked into a black hole. In this black hole is a whole bunch of green monoliths - not unlike those you find in the second stage of the Star Wars arcade machine.

You have to fly over, around or simply blast into cosmic dust these monoliths which block your way to your goal.

Your target is a vortex, a long rectangular tunnel, which leads you into the next stratum of the black hole. Successfully fly through nine levels of the hole and your craft will emerge back in real space.

You can conserve fuel by flying low - but you'll need nerves of steel and lots of anti-matter missiles to dodge your way around the great green obstacles. Your ship is protected by five shields.

Overall, Terrahawks is an extremely well thought out and executed bit of programming. A lot of thought has gone into the detail - but here at C&VG we felt it was lacking in the playability area.

And as for the Terrahawks link. Well, maybe the proper packaging will explain more than the information we received here at C&VG.