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Raffelle Cecco's Cybernoid was a big enough hit with the CU crew last May when it was released on the C64 and earned Hewson a Screen Star. Not surprising then that they should follow it up a mere six months later with the sequel, or rather "The Revenge" to give it its proper subtitle.

At first glance, Cybernoid II doesn't look at all that different from its predecessor. The bad news is that several glances later I was still thinking the same thing. The plot yields no surprises: the pirates have returned in a new, even more fearsome battlestar to plunder the Federation storage depots. Because you made such a good job of getting rid of them last time you have, once again, been chosen to see them off and recover the cargo. In other words, more of the same.

You'll have gathered by now (if you didn't know already) that a lot of shooting, bombing and dodging goes on in this game. The thing is set in a sort of post-Chernobyl Kew Gardens landscape filled with ugly-looking plant life. The plants spit deadly blobs at your cybercraft but they don't go that fast and would be easily dodged were it not for the hundred and one other things happening at the same time. A whole host of flying saucers, rockets, deadly snowflake thingies and the like, plus, of course, the alien ships chase after you and destroy your craft at a touch (you start with four).

Apart from the different screen layout the most noticeable enhancement to this new version is the extended array of weaponry you are provided with. There are now seven keys to scramble for desperately if you want to avert death. The old stuff is still there - plain bombs, bouncing bombs and enemy-seeking missiles, as well as the trusty shield (not that trusty actually, as it always gives out when you least expect and most need it). Additional armament comes in the form of time bombs, a smart bomb and the absolutely brilliant tracer missiles which scoot round the edge of the screen destroying everything in their path.

All the things that made Cybernoid a Screen Star are still here: superb music and sound effects, really brilliant flowery graphics and gameplay that requires a bit of thought and a lot of concentration, not just a sharp trigger finger. I don't think there's much here for existing Cybernoid players; not enough has changed, but definitely worth a look as far as everyone else is concerned.