Of all the discs for review this month, this is the most conventional in the arcade game style. You're in the ground-hopping space fighter, trying to get through the asteroid fields and then the ice caves; sounds familiar?

Well, yes it is. But if you like arcade action, you could do worse. The sound effects are muted but realistic and the graphics look good (with the possible exception of your not infrequent demise, which looks like no explosion I ever saw in Star Wars). There's a satisfyingly difficult and increasingly complex path to follow, with a variety of hazards and a rub-your-tummy-whole-patting-your-head collection of controls to manipulate and parameters to watch - joystick up, down and forward to move: back to bomb: fire to (would you believe?) fire your laser cannon. Plus a top-line display for number of ships, score, and number of defences remaining per section.

The asteroid fields and the ice caves each have eight sections. Every time you pass on to the next the game speeds up a bit, you get 10 points and the solar pods turn into debris.

The what? Well, the solar pods scattered in your path are harmless until they turn orange, which means they are lethal debris. They get to be debris arbitrarily from time to time; or you can do it for yourself by shooting at them - hit them and you get ten points. You can also score by hitting the bases on the landscape scrolling by beneath - direct hits on reactor towers only, though it's not easy to distinguish towers from the rest of the base; and every time you fire or bomb you lose a point. Then there's the missile, launched from time to time from the ground.

It's pretty sluggish and easily avoided, unless you're dodging meteorites and debris at the time. You also get 100 points if you can zap it, though that isn't easy.

Near the end of section eight you'll come across the orbiting Control Centre, worth a thousand points and an extra ship if you hit it (you start with three ships).

The ice caves are a bit disappointing after that. Still not easy, mind, but basically, you're just avoiding the walls while still finding bases to bomb.

Conclusion? New ideas may be attractive, but there's nothing wrong with familiarity. And this is a solid enough version of a standard arcade game, done with no little care and a satisfying degree of difficulty.