Normally in these space shooty things Earth's last line of defence against alien invasion is a lone starfighter. Magnatron's scenario is somewhat bleaker - Earth's only protection is a space mining ship!

Doesn't bode well for our chances of survival, does it? But this isn't just any space mining ship - it's equipped with a super-powerful tractor beam. You, as the ship's pilot, can use this beam to 'grab' asteroids and even alien ships and smash them into each other, thus destroying thém. As the player progresses by cleaning each screen of alien filth the nasties get more varied and more vicious in their attacks.

Magnatron is one of those games that sounds good on paper but turns out to be rather unappealing in practice. The movement of all the objects is governed by inertia - nothing innately wrong in that - but trying to lug the careering boulders around and aiming them at the aliens can get frustratingly tricky, especially if your ship is whizzing around as well. Although slickly presented and well programmed, Magnatron fails to impress.