Sharp Shooters Needed

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A lot of thought seems to have gone into the development of Ultron, a "shoot-'em-down" arcade game from Viper Software.

As you may guess from the name, someone has obviously decided to try for the ultimate Space Invaders game. A difficult task, but they haven't done too bad a job at all.

The music played while the game is loading is particularly striking. Viper have composed one of those catchy tunes that pound round your brain and won't go away.

The graphics are equally impressive and start as the instructions appear on screen.

Ultron isn't content with just four or five different waves of aliens. There are 12! Some are easy. Others, like the swarm of vibrating purple pods, are as easy to get past as a Liverpool nightclub bouncer with a toothache.

If that isn't enough, after every fourth wave a swarm of asteroids appears on screen and has to be negotiated, after which you dock your laser base with a mother-ship for a nice points bonus.

Also you can't just sit there blasting away and trusting to luck. Every shot that misses counts as "photon wastage", and is measured on a scale at the bottom of the screen.

If this gets too high it's goodbye laser base, so a bit of sharp-shooting is called for.

The game also has all the extras you could want. Sound is good, and can be switched off if required. You can freeze-frame if you get in a tight corner, or if the phone rings.

The game has a demo mode to show you the type of aliens to expect and can be played by joystick, though the controls are so easy that it is simple to play using the computer keyboard.

My overall opinion? Well, not quite the ultimate, but very good. If you like shooting down swarms of marauding aliens, then buy it. You won't be disappointed.

James Bibby