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More armament antics from Martech. The enemy have finished their CK23 Orbital Interceptor. This is a space shuttle-like beast that hangs around in geostationary orbit until they decide that it's time to make a little mischief on terra firma. Our side are a little perturbed by this turn of events, so you are dispatched to the secret island base where it's been developed to complete the shuttle simile.

The island is part of the Wiaframe archipelago. First, you have to wander about the deserted villages and towns until you find the nuclear reactor. Then you steal the plans for the CK23, and turn on the Chernobyle emulation mode on the power station before making your escape very good indeed.

There's no point in mentioning the armed guards, patrols and other essential accoutrements for any island research complex. Why these people can't put their R&D establishments inland where they can guard them properly is beyond me. Ah well.

Fortunately for you, you are not totally alone. The Enemy abducted most of the world's top defence scientists and have forced them to work on the project. Most of the worlds top defence scientists are not happy. Moreover, seventeen of these brainboxes had absconded and holed out in various places on the island. There they developed a computer network, and worked together on a plan to destroy the SK23. They were on the point of executing their plan when they were discovered, and the civilian underground spirited them away.

You know who, but not where, they were. You also have their personal dossiers, and being able to identify whose terminal you've just discovered might allow you to work out what they were doing. Perhaps you can finish it for them. Maybe what you discover will save your skin. Maybe.

This precious dermatological component might also be preserved by your equipment. As well as an image-intensifier (you see them before they see you - a good start to any encounter), you also have a mine detector, a few bombs and a shooter. The batteries for the detector and the ammo for the piece are both limited. Fortunately replenishments are lying about.

While the enemy were disposing of the original natives of the island, and generally enemising (err....) the place they put up a sort of Island Light Railway. Your map shows a few stations, but there are more.

As you wander through the 3D landscape you can spot and investigate various objects. Everything is joystick, with a couple of keyboard presses to go into the more obscure action modes. If you come face to face with a patrol you get to shoot it out. But then he's trying to shoot yours out as well.

So, to sum up, there's an explore-the-map bit, a puzzle-the-computer bit, a shoot-the-baddie bit. Lashings of all of them, in fact. What more could the heart desire?

I don't know about the plot being (c) Martech. There was this game called Glider Rider which seems pretty damn close. But this is wireframe, and that was isometric.

This isn't bad at all, a bit slow to get into but soon engaging the intellect. Ignore the shooting bit, it seems to have been put in as a sop to the marketing bods, but. the rest of the game is more than recompense once you twig what's going on. I suspect it will be very satisfying to finish this one, and furthermore I suspect I'm actually going to bother. Wow.

So what's the catch? Well, aside from having armed guards, tanks and assorted nasties, this is a terra firma only Mercenary/StarGlider-like vector game. The mono display is not exactly cheerful. I liked the automatic gun sight which appears as quickly as does the guard. The lack of ammo is a real disadvantage. Still that's what gives this game a learning curve. Follow it and you'll be hooked.

(Best policeman's voice) Cholo, Cholo, Cholo, what's all this then. (Normal sexy Mel Gibson voice) Yup, Catch 23 looks like the feeble Firebird frolic. But it is much more playable. The wireframe is commendably speedy and the solid armed guard sprites add a touch of realism. The first person view makes the game genuinely suspenseful. Not quite as taxing as The Armageddon Man but equally rewarding.