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Nexus continue to defy all natural laws by releasing another game of quiet stunning mediocrity. Students of the soporific arts will doubtless remember their previous releases; a motley crew of shoot-'em-ups and strategy games, with a sports simulation thrown in for good measure.... Oh yes, and enough pencil cases to last the average kid a lifetime. Nonetheless, I never hold survival against anyone. Alas, 'Blazer' is the slimmest and least attractive release I've seen in months. The plot looks promising - fly to an alien planet and steal a secret weapon from under the nose of the enemy - but believe me, Clint Eastwood wouldn't be seen dead on a film-set like this. As soon as you get past the loading screen you'll like this. As soon as you get past the loading screen you'll see why. It looks and sounds like something a good programmer's kid brother would write; big, blotchy sprites, undetailed scrolling backgrounds, Amstrad sound effects, you know the stuff...

To be more specific, this is 'Light Force' without any of the polish, speed of gameplay and even some (your ship is supposed to pick up extra weapons as you go) fail to deliver very much.

Anyone unfamiliar with FTL's minor masterpiece, or that ancient arcade game Starforce need only picture an alien landscape which scrolls upwards, and waves of aliens that fly in formation from the top or sides of the screen. Your own ship has to bob and weave its way to the end of the landscape, shooting some features on the ground for extra points but mainly other ships for the hell of it. Now this would be pointless enough, if several labels had not already done it well for £1.99. Warhawk (go and buy it of the promised special features, folks!) is not only everything Blazer is, it's also much more playable. The big question is... what next, for Nexus? Well, they could try taking half the sprites out of 'Barbarian' and calling Donkey-Jacket or perhaps halving the speed of Uridium and calling it Pullover. Best of all would be to write something halfway decent and then halve the price. 'Familiarity breeds contempt' they say, something which is true of both Blazer and sadly, Nexus themselves.