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In Axis Assassin from Ariolasoft your task is to fight off an army of insects which quickly multiply and attack you in droves. It's an interesting version of the well known arcade oldie Tempest.

Each screen holds a 3D grid and your object is to move your "man" around the perimeter and in and out of the grid in order to fight off the approaching enemy.

Battle begins after the Master Arachnid sends out a Spinner to weave strands across the grid. With an unlimited amount of ammo you must try and see off the meanies sent after you by firing at them down the corridors.

They take the form of Hunters, Drones, Spores and Xterminators and each has an individual mode of attack and its own points system. You have to try to destroy enough of the enemy to make the Master Arachnid re-appear.

When he does you can zap him with a pulse bomb. Alternatively you can race on to a faster more ferocious screen.

If you choose to zap the Master and succeed you enter another mode which is rather like an Asteroid game.

This time you have to rescue a fellow Assassin who has been captured and lies imprisoned in a central box along with the Master.

Shoot away enough of the box to allow you to get in and you can attempt, within a set time limit, to rescue your comrade without touching the walls of the box or the Master himself.

To add to your troubles, the other insects float towards you like asteroids. Contact with anything means annihilation.

If you can rescue your colleague, you are awarded an extra man. Fail and you lose one. Either way you move on to the next grid to start the battle over again.

There are three levels of play and twenty different grids, each increasing in difficulty.

Handily, you can start at any you want, which removes the necessity of ploughing through earlier screens once you find them too easy.

However, you would be well advised to start on the earlier screens on the higher levels.

The game kept me interested for a while, but lacked the variety to make it really addictive. The graphics are acceptable but not up to the Atari's capabilities - all the characters and scenery are based on wire-frame shapes.

It's one of Ariolasoft's Mid-Price series so the disc will only set you back £9.95, with the cassette costing £2 less.