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This game is certainly very good. I could even use superlatives like "terrific"... however, it depends a great deal on the user. Some people are put off by its complexity and would consequently not rate it so highly.

Defender (for 'tis Planetoid under another name) is an arcade-type game, where you have to kill the descending alien ships before they carry off the humanoids that live on the mountainous surface of the planet. If one of the humanoids is being lifted towards the top of the screen by a 'lander', you must shoot to kill it (missing the humanoid, of course!) and airlift this humanoid back to the surface.

If the lander and the humanoid reach the top of the screen, it turns into a 'mutant' which will then seek you out very quickly. There are 'baiters' as well, and after you have survived the first attack wave, there are 'bombers', 'pods' and 'swarmers'. All of these 'nasties' fire missiles at you and move independently about the screen.

In all, there are seven controls that you must master. These are: Up, down, accelerate, fire, reverse, hyperspace and 'smart bomb'.

As you can probably imagine, it takes considerable practice and patience before one has mastered the game, and it is this aspect that may put people off. However, we both found the game totally addictive.

The graphics are very good, but do really require a colour monitor; those with only a colour TV or B&W set will find that they are missing vital information summarised in the top of the screen. there are some quite exhilarating sounds, especially at multiples of 10,000 score. As long as you consider yourself fairly dextrous this is a really good game.