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Hauled onto the C64 via a Sega coin-op, the latest US Gold release offers the chance to cook creatures from another planet. And why not? These guys seem intent on squatting in otherwise inconspicuous washing machine warehouses. Our reviewer investigates a few crates...

What we need here is a good catchphrase. "In space, no-one can hear you scream"? Naah, too spacey. "When man is the warmest place to hide"? Nope, not scary enough. "He's coming to town with a few days to kill"? Pfff, too corny. "Don't be afraid... be very, very afraid". Hmm, getting there. How 'bout, "OH MY GOD! Aliens! Run awaay!!". Yep. Like it.

There's no two ways about it, US Gold's Alien Storm is ull of them. Wriggling blobs, scurrying spider-types, gloppy green creatures that dangle from the ceiling, stomping bipeds - you name it, it's got 'em.

Now some ETs are all right, but these dudes have a real attitude problem. They've landed on Earth and are currently kicking up some dust - bumping off humans, ransacking shops, parking their intergalactic supercruisers on double yellow lines and generally acting like jerks. Time to kick slimey alien butt. And remember, "This time it's war" (ah, there's another good one).

At the start of all this interspecies aggro, you and a buddy get to select your alien-scorching character from a team of three. There's a girlie, a blokey and a droidey (although in truth all three characters look pretty much the same apart from their colour scheme). Anyway, pick your person and off you trot to inflict some pain.

Basically, what we have here is a Golden Axe beat-'em-up... well, more of a Shiny Laser roast-'em-down really. Your characters walk along the scrolly scenes plugging meanies with bullets, or using their lasery gadgets to unleash a stream of photon death on the alien interlopers. If the weird ones are getting a bit too close for comfort, you can perform inhuman acts of somersaulting, or the far cooler Starsky and Hutch-style barrel roll to avoid their tentacular advances. Alternatively, hit a function key to unleash your smart weapon. A wave of pure energy (well, character blocks) sweeps the screen and destroys everything in its path - except you.

Once an attack wave has been summarily slaughtered, an 'OK' beacon signals that you should move on.

Clear the street scene and you are guided into a building in which the aliens have set up home. (Now, for some strange reason these are usually electrical retailers or household goods stores. Why extra-terrestrials with control over light-speed space vessels should feel at home nestling between cases of Sony TVs and Kenwood Chefettes is totally beyond me.)

This section offers an Op Wolf style blaster, where you waste the meanies as they appear from behind crates, pop up from the floor, fly across the room or wriggle along the ceiling. The occasional creature also releases energy pods which can be shot (picked up) to boost either your flagging lifeline, or your smart weapon potential.

Occasionally you have to rush to the next scene - and I do mean rush! This high-speed scroller has both troopers pegging it along the road like their lives depended on it (which it does, sort of!). You shoot continually, but can tap the fire button to perform somersaults. Reach the end of this section and you enter another Golden Axe-style section.

And so it continues, alternating between these three different stages (in no particular order) until you enter the alien mothership and destroy the brain-thing which controls them all.

Without exception, Alien Storm is a real visual treat. From the animated monsters, to the super-fast scrolling to the gorgeous alien graphics inside the mothership. The C64 has never looked so colourful.

Unfortunately I can't be so complimentary about the sound. A jolly ditty beeps throughout completely shattering any feeling of impending doom. My advice is to load the game, turn the sound off, buy the movie soundtrack from Alien and play that instead.

Gameplay is fine - and all the better for having a simultaneous two-player option - although even with the intermediate stages, it does grow a bit wearisome. There's a hell of a lot of game to hack through and by the end there's a definite feeling of "been here, done this". Even alien annihilators can feel jaded.

I would also have liked a bit more variety in the enemy attackers. There are only about half-a-dozen species of creature that repeatedly crop up throughout the mission, and you soon start wishing that you could face something different. Again there are some wonderfully grotesque end-of-levellers - but I wanted a few more to fight.

A quick warning to people with a low threshold for tape multiloading. The levels are quite short, and since each is loaded in separately, don't be surprised if you spend a fair amount of time tape-flipping and rewinding instead of leapin' and laserin'.

Alien Storm isn't the bestest game ever but it's certainly slick, very nicely put together and good fun with a partner, too. You surely could do worse this winter than curl up in front a warm, freshly-toasted being-thing from another planet.

1. Minimal variety in opponents and gamestyle eventually grows dull.
2. That soundtrack...

1. Colourful graphics are extremely good - especially inside the mothership.
2. Two-player beastie burning doubles the fun.
3. Three different gamestyles keep the yawns at bay and the trigger finger pumpin'.
4. Main characters are nicely animated and quick to react.
5. The super-smooth parallax and rapid scrolling is very eye-catching.
6. Neat intro and player select.
7. One hell of a long mission with some eight multi-stage missions.