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Far out in deep space, beyond anywhere previously travelled by man (or woman), lies what has always seemed like an innocuous asteroid belt. Recent studies have shown an alien presence lurks there with numerous installations seeming to indicate that the aliens are massing in preparation for an attack! With the Earth in peril and woefully under-prepared for any such invasion we're left with only one option: send up a pilot in the experimental Neutron fighter craft in an attempt to stop them in their tracks!

Neutron places you in the combat suit of that pilot, flying you in at the start of the first of nine areas which are home to alien technology.

Unfortunately, the aliens knew you were coming, and you're assaulted right from the off by waves of enemy attack ships. Just as well your ship is equipped with neutron blasters, capable of taking out many of the enemy craft with just one shot. Other, larger enemies appear midway through or at the end of an area and take many hits to destroy.

Occasionally, a capsule floats across the screen and, if shot, releases an energy pod which powers up your ship's weapons system. These weapons can be upgraded several times: isn't it nice of the aliens to leave something that can help you to destroy them more easily lying around? It's best that you take out as many as you can because colliding with an enemy ship or projectile makes your ship explode. Neutron breaks slightly with shoot-'em-up convention though, as death (thankfully!) only knocks back your power-up by one level.

Should you successfully make it through all nine of the areas and destroy the alien forces... well, congratulations - you'll be a hero! Unfortunately, there's no point coming home, as the programmer is intending to write a massively expanded cartridge version of the game featuring tons more areas and enemies. You might as well hang around until that's finished, so you can do it all over again...

Cramming a game into 16K is such a difficult task! So discovering that Neutron has nine large scrolling levels, three different background styles, multiple enemies and large bosses to destroy is little short of astounding.

Sarah Jane Avory is rapidly building a great reputation and this is so polished - her music, graphics and design all coming together to create a satisfying vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up. Put aside comparisons to Star Force and you will find a really playable game that draws you in and makes you keep playing.

I can't wait for the "full" game - and Sarah's other projects in the pipeline - so I will have to go back and play Neutron some more.

Now I must say I never really liked Star Force, which makes formulating an opinion on Neutron a particularly curious dilemma given its obvious inspiration. On the other hand, Warhawk is one of my favourite budget shooters. Irrespective of how the buttered bread falls, what can't be argued is that it's really well coded, the action smooth and relentless, and will certainly give shmup-heads a workout. Even the clanking sound effects are authentically true.

You get an awful lot of bang for your "16K-of-compressed-code" buck, although eventually it does begin to feel somewhat samey, and the difficulty level noticeably ramps up about halfway through.

With the promise of a vastly more expanded version in the future, this shortened release may seem little more than an hors d'oeuvtre prelude to the main course, but it's an extremely tasty and enjoyable one, nonetheless.

I've loved the arcade game Star Force since I first played it in the mid-1980s and, with the exceptions of Fire Track and Warhawk, the C64 never really scratched that itch for me. Now we have Neutron and I'm genuinely surprised at how good it is. Technically it's superb, with alien formations zooming around smoothly and chucking projectiles all over the shop.

Levels and attack patterns are varied enough to keep you on your toes, which is remarkable considering the game is programmed to fit into 16K of memory.

Neutron is a thrilling shoot-'em-up that may just have usurped Fire Track as my favourite vertical scroller on the C64. The best compliment I can pay it is to say that it really feels like Star Force, and I can't wait to get back to playing it again.

Presentation 77%
Arcade-like appearance, with optional auto-fire and joystick/keyboard controls.

Graphics 88%
Good scrolling, effective backdrops and extremely fluid enemy formations.

Sound 88%
Several pieces of music, all very good, complemented by appropriate FX.

Hookability 90%
Fast-paced blasting action with a genuine arcade feel.

Lastability 86%
Only nine levels, but it's always fun to try for a new high score.

Overall 90%
A 16K game taster for something much bigger, but still an excellent shoot-'em-up in its own right.