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Delta was previously a full pricer and was quite a cracker. It is, as I'm sure you already know, a very fast and very polished shoot-'em-up. It's fairly straight-forward but playability-wise it comes up trumps.

Terra, your homeworld, is in deadly peril from the ravages of the Hsiffan Khanate due to the fact that you incorrectly translated their name into something that meant 'ear sniffing bottom cleft'. As a result of the hostilities brought about by your diplomatic incompetence, you must destroy as much of the enemy fleet as possible.

The enemy come hurtling toward you at a cracking rate of knots and each wave must be completely destroyed in order to obtain bonuses later in the level. Seven floating icons appear, some of which turn blue, depending on how many alien waves you wiped out previously. Only blue icons can be collected. The icons represent various bonuses: extra speed, multiple fire, bullets, warper, supa shield, protector and the enigmatic (look it up!) fish weapon.

Anyway, they all become important later on. For example, huge columns encountered later in the game can only be avoided if you have collected extra speed. The fish weapon, which is collected from the amphibians' planet of Zlot, will make your life a lot easier. (Just don't ask, okay?)

The end of each level produces a large guardian. Though they're easy as pie to annihilate early on, they become pant-soil-ingly powerful later. The graphics are small but beautifully animated and fill the whole screen. The border has been cleverly used to store information such as your vessel's status and the number of lives you have left. This makes the game very impressive-looking.

The only negative points are that it can at times be a little too difficult and some stages are rendered impossible because of missed bonuses. That aside, Delta is an admirable piece of programming and, at budget price, it's a game that most definitely should not be missed.

There's something wrong with this one. My little flying thingy keeps disappearing. [It's called losing a life, Edith! - Ed] But it's happened three hundred times! (Good Grief, leave this one to us dearie.) I feel a Corker coming on. If you hate shoot-'em-ups then steer clear. This one really does the business.