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Here we all are, sitting around waiting for the world's best scientists to come up with a simple cure for the common cold and what do they do? Waste their time conjuring up new forms of entertainment!

The invention in question is code-named Titan. The object is simple: you control a metal ball, which you must smash off a series of bricks (Sound familiar? And these scientists are supposed to be able to come up with new ideas) across 80 levels. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

And it would be, if it wasn't for the devious little traps on later levels which include teleporters (shoving you from one side of the playing area to the other), contact blocks (seemingly empty spaces which build into an impassable wall when you pass them) and death icons (which basically annihilate you on contact) among other unmentionably nasty things.

Get through to the end and you win the game. Lose all of your nine lives and you don't.

Those scientist blokes are resourceful chappies, aren't they?

Aren't that? Oh, well, perhaps not.

After the interesting Galactic Conqueror I was expecting great things from Titus. So imagine my disappointment when I sat down to what amounts to a souped-up Breakout clone.

While the scrolling screen is an original concept for a product of this type, it hasn't been implemented at all well and the jerky movement distorts the screen badly. After a bit, the whole thing just gets tediously repetitive. Maybe this would have done a tad better as a budget title but a tenner's just too much.

On the whole, a big letdown after Titus' previous offering.

It's happening again! Aaargh! Not another spate of Breakout clones, I don't think I could stand it!

OK, so this one is different 'coz it's got eight-way scrolling, but even that's no reason to resurrect an already pensionable genre - unless it's done really well. And it's not - the scrolling's jerky and glitchy. The sprites are passable, although basic but the gaudy backdrops and terribly off-putting with some really eye-straining colours and designs, which detract from the on-screen actin.

Basically, a pretty average reworking of an old-fashioned game-style which should have been left to die in peace.

Presentation 38%
Mildly interesting title screen. Gaudy display and awkward control system.

Graphics 32%
Very basic sprites and animation, with very gaudy backgrounds.

Sound 27%
Basic effects, and no tunes

Hookability 43%
Not the most interesting of products from the outset.

Lastability 35%
Not enough gameplay to hold your attention for any period of time.

Overall 39%
A pretty average attempt at resurrecting an aging genre.