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Those evil aliens just will not stop. They always seem to think that they can get away with taking over planets that have been conquered fairly and squarely by Earth. So, just to teach them a lesson, the wily Earth armed forces are going to send out another barely-armed single-man fighter to destroy the entire alien operation.

Being a bit of a thickie, you have, of course, volunteered to take on this highly dangerous mission against a massed enemy of a far greater technological level than yourself, to defend inhospitable planets which conspire against you with a variety of lethal natural hazards.

Galaxy Force II is yet another in a long line of shoot-'em-ups on the Megadrive. This time, the action is viewed in 3D from behind the craft, Afterburner-style, and the player zoomes around five different planets destroying the alien stronghold on each one. This involves flying low over the planet surface blowing up all and sundry, then flying through a tunnel to reach the nerve centre of that particular planet. Destroy that, and it's onto the next planet for more death, destruction and devastation hi-jinks and frolics.

To prevent your spacecraft from suffering too early a demise, it is supplied with some energy deflection shields. These stop enemy fire and minor collisions for a while, but take too many hits and they're history.

This means that every impact directly affects your energy, giving you less time to complete the level!

The energy supply of the Galaxy Force ship constantly runs down with the passage of time, so it's fortunate that you have control over the speed at which your craft is travelling, making it much easier to beat the deadline for each level and rake in time-related bonus points.

Not even the best pilot would agree to face such monumental odds armed with a mere pea-shooter laser cannon. As a result, the kindly technicians of Earth have supplied you with an unlimited supply of fire and forget missiles.

These simply lock on to the nearest targets and zoom off on a trail of destruction at your command. Also, handy power-up carriers appear once per level to supply you with a power boost for your auto-fire lasers. A pity no-one thought to supply you with a huge fleet of space battleships, really...

The Master System conversion of Galaxy Force was a miracle considering the limitations of that machine. So the Megadrive version must be fab, right? Well, no actually. Galaxy Force II is a lame effort, with all the speed and playability of something slow and boring.

The sprites aren't so bad, but the animation is lacklustre and jerky. The real fault, however, is the unresponsive controls. The ship seems to jerk and hop its way around the screen entirely of its own accord, making the game frustrating, and the dodgy collision detection doesn't add to the game's lasting appeal either.

If you want a 3D shoot-'em-up for your Megadrive, get Afterburner II or even Space Harrier, but I'd avoid this disappointing release.

After the high quality 3D graphics of Space Harrier II and Afterburner, I thought this would be a knockout. Sadly, it's not. The still screenshots look impressive, but playing the game soon reveals its flaws.

The 3D effect is jerky and unrealistic, the tunnel sequence is absolutely pathetic (just a naff series of concentric squares) and the controls are sluggish.

Not only that, the game is not particularly challenging and since the five levels are all pretty short, it doesn't take long to go all the way through the game. Even the biggest Galaxy Force fans will be disappointed by this conversion.

Presentation 68%
Comprehensive options and nice stage select screen.

Graphics 72%
Looks great when it's still, but everything moves slowly and jerkily.

Sound 59%
Crummy sound effects and a few weedy tunes which don't add to the atmosphere.

Playability 67%
The sluggish controls and poor visuals result in immediate apathy...

Lastability 51%
...and the five short levels don't take very long to complete. After that, you won't want to come back.

Overall 59%
A disappointing conversion let down by poor graphics, sluggish gameplay and lack of challenge.