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Star Trek games are now few and, thankfully, light years between. This one must be one of the first on the scene for quite some time.

The scenario is the old tried and tested one, only this time there are no Klingons, this time they're called Vagans (hence the title). This wicked race of aliens has really caught the Federation with it's trousers down and has attacked without warning and it's up to you and your trusty ol' ship, the Andromeda, to beat off the attack.

The section of the galaxy they're attacking is divided up into 64 quadrants, each with 64 sectors, each sector built up of an 8x8 grid, and these can be all looked at separately. These all show the current locations of any Federation and enemy ships. Any action takes place on the short range scanner and you can fire at the enemy ships, but watch out! They can fire back!!

Defending the Federation's bases is the name of the game, these being very vulnerable to Vagan attack. Once these are destroyed no fuel is available and the Federation will crumble. There is a kind of 'smart bomb' that destroys everything in a sector, but once used you can't enter that sector without ruining your engines.

On screen information includes your position, quadrant, and amount of fuel and ammo you have left, along with a picture of the actual sector you are in.

Star Trek games were a popular genre of computer entertainment on a home micro, many moons ago and were all written in BASIC (some things never change). Interceptor's appropriately titled Star Trek was one of the few versions of this theme available when the C64 first made its appearance, and there have been no other attempts to revive this sort of game ... until now! I doubt that anybody will be interested in something quite so aged,and even this very good version will fail to spark off any players today, even at the low price.

Julian seems to think 'Trekkie' games went out with the ZX81, but he's quite wrong - they went out after the Spectrum came along and there were quite a few versions around. In fact, Vagan Attack was one of the earliest 'Spekkie Trekkies' and was a very respectable one. I know because I was that player. However, it seems a bit late in the day to translate it to the C64, and in what turns out to be a rather basic looking manner. The age of the game type should have little to do with it, because the simple battle strategy element still works quite well. Not great by any means, but by no means all that bad either - sorry Jaz.

When I saw this, I couldn't believe my peepers! A Trekkie game? They went out with the TRS 80, BBC and the ZX81, didn't they? I wouldn't have minded if they'd made the effort of putting a little hi-res or different action in, but oh no, it's exactly the same as the sort of thing I used to play on the PETs at school (when the teacher had his back turned). I suppose £1.99 is OK for a PET emulator ... otherwise forget it as there are plenty of better games around for the same price.

Presentation 64%
Easy to use with on screen info.

Graphics 10%
Rather poor character graphics.

Sound 7%
Phrrrrt.

Hookability 22%
If you've never played a Trekkie you might play a few times.

Lastability 20%
These days, a sort of 'specialist' appeal game.

Value For Money 27%
Low price, but a rather old looking game.

Overall 19%
Looks quaint (antiquated?) but if you like the type, worth it at the price.