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Discovery Software first came to the attention of the British games-playing public as the programming team responsible for Ocean's conversion of Arkanoid. The American publisher has now signed a distribution deal with Gainstar and, along with Sword Of Soldan, this horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up is the first product to be brought into the country under the deal.

Nothing new is either promised or delivered from this horizontal scroller, but if the action is fast enough and there are plenty of aliens to blast then who cares about innovation?

The basic craft can hold up to five bolt-on weapon systems, picked up by shooting and collecting the imaginatively numbered icons (you guessed it - they're called one to five). Better still, each separate weapons system can be expanded (by twirling the joystick) up to three times to gain even more death-dealing powers.

Clear a complete wave of nasties to collect a bonus - 1,000 points for the smaller attack patterns.

Press space bar during the attract sequence to reveal this options screen which allows you to alter most of the game's parameters to your taste. This however can be taken too far, resulting in a game that's all-too-easy to complete.

Wow! Hybris is so addictive that it should almost come with a Government health warning. It's true that it offers very little that hasn't been seen before, but all of the best elements of the shoot-'em-up have been taken and spliced together into a glorious package that moves well, looks fantastic and feels better than just repeated throughout, as there are enough variations to keep it from becoming irritating.

Sure, it's a pattern deal, with certain groups of swarming aliens attacking at set points along the route, but the landscape is so long and the action so engrossing that you'd be hard-pressed to remember where you are, let alone what's going to attack next.

If there is a problem it's with the game's length - there are only three levels, and the arcade style "Continue Play" option, combined with the ability to customize the craft and the alien attack patterns means that it won't take a great deal of perseverance to see things through to the end.

That said, it's up to the individual to decide whether to exercise these two options, and played in the default mode it should take quite a while to master.

Hybris is everything that a good shoot-'em-up should be - and then some!

An Atari version is currently reaching its final stages of development and should be in the shops within the month at the same price as the Amiga.