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Anyone who finds traditional sideways scrolling blasters irresistible will probably have spent the last few weeks ploughing through Activision's seemingly unsurpassable R-Type II. In comparison, it has to be said that Armalyte, based on a fairly recent C64 hit, looks pretty sick. A surprise really, considering (a) they're essentially the same game, and (b) the two were put together by the same team, the normally excellent Arc Developments.

The theory behind it is simple; take one space ship, steer it through a horizontally scrolling space-scape, tackle an assortment of deadly obstacles, and attempt to dismantle whole fleets of hostile enemy ships. Naturally, there's the obligatory selection of end-of-level guardians to negotiate. Armalyte also shares with the R-Type games the super blaster available by holding down the fire button. So where's it gone wrong here? Well, while R-Type II was almost faultless, Armalyte is bugged by some lazy and thoughtless programming.

It's pretty enough, and fairly tough - too tough from the outset, I'd say! - but it's about as user-friendly as Quest For Glory II. At the end of each and every game you have to sit through both a still graphics of your trashed space cruiser, and then an (admittedly pretty) animation before it lets you get into the game again. This is, of course, infuriating - on the early stages (where you're bound to make loads of mistakes) you're watching this rubbish more than you're actually playing the game! I'm sorry, but snail-like loading is just unforgiveable.

It's also silly to insist on giving players only three lives with no chance to continue play. I know some people complain that continues make games too easy to complete, but their omission tends to suggest the game isn't quite as large as it might be.

Still, if you can stand these irritations (and you'll have to be pretty mellow not to lose your rag) then Armalyte isn't all bad. It's tough, so getting through each section is a satisfying experience, and graphics and animation ar e respectable enough, if a little two dimensional.

Even so, despite the irritations, it is a game I found myself coming back to again and again - not so much because it impressed me, or even bugged me, but because I'm such a hopeless sucker for sideways scrolling blasters. That said, Armalyte isn't total waste of time, just a bit of a waste of time.

Sloppy and inadequate shoot-'em-up, but still appealing to die-hard fans of the genre. Pretty, but not nearly good enough to compete with the best.