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After only a few hours playing Mercenary, I'm convinced it's set to rival such arcade classics as Elite and Summer Games. The first Mercenary adventure, Escape From Targ features a unique combination of flight simulation, combat and adventure action using stunning three dimensional vector graphics.

The Plot: Your spaceship has crash-landed on the planet Targ. The inhabitants of Targ, the Palyars, are in conflict with the alien Merchanoids and your objective is to assist one side or the other (or both) in the hope of being able to repair your ship or purchase another so that you can leave Targ. You are equipped with a fully mobile life-support system including 'Benson', your ever-faithful computer who provides your only contact with the outside world.

The arena: The Planet Targ has one main city, complete with a variety of roads and buildings. You are free to move anywhere in or around buildings, and descend to the subterranean complex of rooms and passages. Objects can be examined from all angles and moved from place to place at will, and vehicles can be purchased, stolen or borrowed to help you move around the surface of Targ more easily. The city of Targ is arranged in a rough square, and your position in the city is displayed on your console together with speed, compass altitude and elevation information, and beneath these indicators is a message window for communications. As with any arcade adventure, your first task should be to set about constructing a map - quite a daunting task!

The graphics: Vector graphics are nothing new, but it's unusual to see images of this quality working to this speed on the C64, and believe me, the action is fast and furious. No music here though, and sound is restricted to bleeps, bangs and whooshes. Bit of a shame that, but I suppose these was no room for graphics and music.

Mercenary looks like staying at the front of my collection for some time to come, and I'm looking forward to seeing other games from Novagen under the Mercenary umbrella in the future.