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The original Codename Mat was quite a big hit on the Spectrum last year. The follow-up takes the same idea a bit further. But not a lot.

Mat has been provided with a new ship the Centurion II, featuring several enhancements on model I, and this time the battle against the Myrons ranges around a grid of 24 satellites. These must be protected to ensure a continued energy supply for the local karillium mines, karillium being 'the bringer of live' and, more importantly, the bringer of points.

The screen display is divided horizontally. The top half is the usual unscientific view of stars which zoom toward you as you accelerate. The bottom contains various status displays. It includes a computer screen which can be used for short and long-range scans, a quadrant map, the tracking of enemies during combat and the provision of damage reports.

Your time is divided between blasting Myrons out of the heavens and then frantically trying to repair your ship and any damaged satellites before warping off somewhere else to wipe out some more Myons before they do any more damage.

The blasting bit starts when the Alert status on the display panel goes red - a group of Myons are closing in. Switching on your battle computer, you can see how far away each craft is and track them individually. Once they're close enough to appear in view, it's a question of getting them in your sights before they do too much damage. You have a choice of firepower. Get rid of the attackers and you can then quickly go about damage repair.

This game's fine as far as it goes, but it does seem a tiny bit old hat. It's state-of-the-art Spectrum 1984.