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Moon Cresta on the Spectrum, Dragon 32 and Commodore 64 is almost exactly the same as Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta which used to be - and perhaps still is! - found in a number of British pubs. Incentive has produced a very good copy, with only a few of the later screens missing.

The quality of the graphics is very high and the sprites are almost perfect. The only exception is the meteors when they're moving at high speed (which they do with gusto!).

For those of you who have never played, Moon Cresta involves controlling a three-part spaceship, one section at a time. The controls are left, right and fire, with either one or two guns on each ship. The object is to kill the enemy ships that bounce around in front of you, tempting you to shoot them down.

Basically it's a shoot-'em-up, with multiple screens and different enemy designs, all on a background of sparkling stars. The difference between this and other similar games is the docking sequence.

At a certain point in the game, you get a chance to dock with the rest of your ship (if there's any of it left). The time taken to do this, if you succeed, defines the amount of bonus gained.

As is becoming the fashion these days, there is a competition - if you can get over 30,000 points, you get a message which you have to send to Incentive. This puts you in the draw to win an original Moon Cresta machine, which would make a nice coffee table, if you dare give it room in your house.

Moon Cresta is a game in the classic Space Invaders style (circa mid to late 70s). Why is hasn't been done to this standard on the Spectrum before is a little puzzling, but now it's here it ought to go down very well with the head bangers. Definitely a hit, but then maybe I'm a bit of a sorehead.