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Programmer David Jones (who wrote Menace) is currently studying Microsystems at the Dundee Institute of Technology. I hope he fails, because the mind that could construct something this warped could do a good deal of damage in the real world!

Blood Money makes some pretty extravagant claims. Its boldest is to assert that it is "the ultimate arcade game". It isn't. It's an above average shoot-'em-up that is frustrating and unrewarding in the extreme.

The idea is simple enough. You participate in an alien safari. The stakes are high; riches and excitement if you win, death if you don't. There are four worlds, each of which contains an unpleasant variety of creatures and defences, all of which are hostile. Killing them is rewarded with hard cash, which materialises as the aliens die. Catching it enables you to drop in to the local equipment shop for a few chocolate bars, a can of 7-Up and some added weaponry.

The problem with Blood Money is that it is frustratingly hard. It doesn't have the right blend of challenge and reward. Space for manoeuvre is at a premium, so having to collect cash as it falls after destroying the aliens increases the difficulty. To lose all the weapons you have purchased each time you die (your original firepower is pitiful) is tremendously irritating. Add to that gates which require opening, gaps which need careful timing to pass through, sections where the joystick reverses, and obstacles which are nigh on impossible to surmount without losing a life (and all that precious weaponry you're spent your hard-earned cash on) and you begin to understand why the game is so annoying.

Blood Money claims to have allotted a megabyte for the graphics, and 250K for the sound, but whilst there are some well animated aliens - the jellyfish are particularly good - and a Dave Whittaker soundtrack, it fails to leave any lasting impression. Most of the sonic and graphic frills have been lavished on the intro sequence with its impressive asteroid shower and samples (Loadsamoney?). The in-game sound, however, is a poor tune and some average effects, whilst the graphics lack any real depth.

Blood Money is neat, but it builds itself up too much. It's simply not as good as it thinks it is. I just hope David Jones doesn't come up with anything on me, he seems to be a malevolent sort of character.