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Empire, Firebird's latest release has been heralded (by Firebird) as a cure for bored Elitists. The game offers an unusual combination of space exploration and trading strategy, blended with just enough shoot-'em-up to make things difficult.

For the most part, your view of the game is via a porthole centre-screen, with all the ships, instruments arranged around the outside, through the porthole, you can see your ship portrayed in two dimensions. Joystick controls offer forward propulsion, reverse thrust (for slowing down), left/right heading and the fire-button activates your weaponry.

The Galaxy consists of about 60 systems, each solar system contains one or more planets with a space-station in orbit around one, a number of alien craft, and a sun.

While in space, pressing 'G' will halt the game and summon up the galactic chart. Each system is shown as a dot, whilst the system you are in at the time flashes. Use the joystick to place the cursor over any system and its vital statistics appear to the left of the charts telling you have visited it yet, the number of planets, Alien or Empire controlled and its population and production statistics.

Pressing 'T' will get the chart of your current system. This chart shows the relative positions and orbits of each planet, the starbase, and other objects of interest. Placing the cursor anywhere on the chart activates the ship's directional indicators, enabling you to fly to any part of the system very accurately.

Finding your way to a starbase couldn't be easier, no groping around here. The left-hand direction indicator toggles between pointing to the starbase and pointing to the cursor's position on the chart. Simply rotate your ship until the arrow above the indicator points straight up and you are pointing in the right direction. Various objects might get in the way like planets (which you simply bounce off!) and the sun (flying too close can cost you the game!), but after a small detour you can easily find your course again.

Flying between systems is a little more difficult. Flying off the edge of your current system will eventually get you to another system. You'll have to avoid a great many asteroids on the way, but you are guided by the right-hand direction indicator which points unerringly towards the new system. In case you change your mind, the left-hand indicator will guide you back to the old system.

Starbases are always shown as a pair of coloured circles. To dock, you must fly between them, and turn to face one of them. A fair amount of precision is needed here, or you won't be admitted. Once inside, you can trade, accept missions, select ship's extras and save the game so far to tape for future loading (a sensible precaution)!

During the course of the game, you will receive radio messages from space stations across the galaxy. Successfully completing these missions will help you equip your ship with the latest extras. There is usually a time limit on these missions, so you will have to report to the appropriate starbase pronto or the offer might be withdrawn.

You don't trade in the traditional sense as no money changes hands. The starbase needs certain materials to produce the 'ships extras' that you need, the necessary materials are produced on the planets. Collect the cargo pods from the planet surface, and deliver them to the starbase, and pods containing various items will be made available to you. A simple reward system exists here.

Descending to the planet surface involves flying an orbit corridor. The entrance to this corridor is shown on the system chart as a small white dot close to the planet, while in space, it appears as a white square.

On entering the corridor, your screen changes to a forward view along the corridor. Keep your ship in the centre to avoid damage - this part of the game is reminiscent of Activision's Master Of The Lamps.

At the end of the corridor, you are placed on a featureless planet surface, predominately orange in colour. At first, you will have to negotiate a forest of telegraph pole-like trees. Hitting a tree reduces your shield strength slightly. Once out of the forest you will be ceaselessly bombarded with oddly shaped missiles. You can either avoid or attempt to shoot them, but if they hit you, your shield strength is significantly reduced. Your left-hand direction indicator points to the nearest cargo pod or exit window, shown as white and green pyramids respectively.

Keep the pyramid dead centre as you approach it and you will collect the pod or be shot back into space again! Once you are back in space, the pods will be placed near the corridor entrance, and you will have to pick them up.

The pods now appear as small white circles and to pick them up you will have to extend your cargo ropes. Each rope apparently has a small sticky blob on the end (revolutionary technology here) and you need to manoeuvre your craft so as to catch the pod on the end of the rope. Not as difficult as it sounds!

You cannot approach a starbase with your cargo ropes out, so you must withdraw the ropes before the starbase can draw the pods inside. Some pods contain radioactive ore, and carrying too many for too long has an understandable ill-effect on the sticky blobs.

Alien spacecraft appear as small, blue versions of your own craft, and can be destroyed with a well-place cannon shot. All the systems in the galaxy have some aliens, some more than others. At best, they represent a nuisance, at worst, a formidable challenge, and destroying enough alien ships in an alien galaxy can win it back for the Empire.

In the main, Empire is as infuriating as it is engrossing. Your performance at the end of a game is expressed as a percentage, but no real overall task is specified. The main screen layout is a trifle primitive, the sound was nothing more than squeaks and whooshes, but I particularly like the 'water gauges'.

The game lacks any kind of realism (whoever heard of two-dimensional space), and some of the missions are a teeny bit far-fetched. If Firebird expect to tout this around as a sequel to Elite they'd better drop the whole idea right now, and while they're at it they could do the same with the price.