Sometime in the future, our world is under threat by the evil dictator known only as Crux. He has amassed his malevolent forces on the moon within twenty colonies. Finding out about this and his subsequent plot to destroy the world, our collective governments in their infinite wisdom, and with all their available forces and resources, decide that the only way to stop the evil Crux is to send a lone pilot to blow up each of the well-protected colonies, presumably as it'll be the last thing he'd expect. The entire populous of Earth now depends on just one person, and that'd be you. Good luck.

Blitz 2000 is a rather slick looking and evolved clone of the VIC-20 game Blitz. The main task is to blow up the city below a building at a time to allow your craft to land safely. After clearing each level a refuelling craft arrives and it's on to the next. Certain bonus items slowly fall from the sky that only add to your overall score, with the occasional asteroid which will wipe out your craft, and each city is protected by automatic missiles that increase in number and speed as you progress. The only weapon available is a bomb, and your ship slowly heads downwards as its fuel depletes.

The ship can be manoeuvred left and right - essential to avoid the aforementioned asteroids and missiles. As I said, this game is somewhat evolved over its binary forefather in that the landscape and city scrolls horizontally below. Essentially, it's about as far as one could go in adding new features without completely breaking the concept and producing something more akin to a shoot-'em-up. More often than not, skillful navigation is needed, as well as quick reactions as the craft heads nearer to the ground. However sometimes it feels like it's more luck than judgement that gets you through later levels.

The graphics are nice, and the title music is well done with nice sound effects in-game. Blitz 2000 is limited by its design and feels a little dated. Surely what retro is all about, I hear you say? Well, maybe not if you're releasing new games regardless of how old the technology is. Then again this is a re-release of something that debuted around twelve years ago under the ill-fated "Supportware" scheme. I don't dislike this game; in the right mood, there’s more than a few minutes of entertainment here, but it's hardly ground-breaking stuff and lacks a little depth by design.

Cronosoft certainly seem to have awoken itself from its prolonged hibernation period. Apart from the games reviewed over the past three weeks in these pages, the premier budget label are preparing to add two CPC and one more ZX Spectrum game to its catalogue. The two Amstrad titles in question are by CPC guru Kevin Thacker, being an excellent port of Bob Smith's Speccy game Stranded and the second is a Sudoku variant. Both are expected to cost £2.99 + postage. Meanwhile, Bob Smith is working on a game called Farmer Jack In Harvest Havoc, which is sort of a Mr Do! clone with possible Bomberman elements thrown in for good measure.

At the moment, this is still in the development and testing cycle, but it should be available for, quite fittingly, Autumn time (or perhaps before then). Keep an eye on Cronosoft's site and the World of Spectrum forums to find out more.