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Role-players, lay down your swords. The 25th century is calling. US Gold have just released the first Buck Rogers game from the combined talents of SSI and TSR. So grab yourself a laser pistol, kit out in the latest silver skin-tight suit and save the world!

TSR and SSI, who've been working together on computer-based Dungeons And Dragons role-playing games for a few years now, have given Buck a new lease of life and the new adventures are just waiting to grab you by the scruff of your attention-span and shout, "Play me!"

Earth is wasteland, ruined by hundreds of years of callous over-exploitation. Now civilisation exists mainly on other words: a massive base on Luna, the populated and terraformed inner planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and reaching out as far as the unforgivingly inhospitable but mineral rich asteroid belt. The Mars-based RAM corporation, which has developed its own army of genetically engineered mutants, wants to use Earth as a planet-sized laboratory. However, an organisation formed by all the other planetary races, called Neo, is determined to thwart the mega-corporation's path. Buck Rogers is a member of Nato. So are you

You build a party of adventurers in the same manner as you've done if you've ever played one of SSI's growing family of AD&D games. In fact, SSI, having spent years developing a software engine for their computer role-playing games, have perfected it in the latest Dragonlance releases and it's that system, modified for complete compatibility with the TSR XXVc RPG, which is used here. As players of these games have come to expect. Characters generated in the TSR game can be loaded into the SSI game - and vice versa.

Once your characters are assembled, they are sent on missions by their unit commander. The game is made up of a number of these missions and the way they're handled is fantastic. Just after your first briefing, you're marched out of the drill room just in time to get caught up in a massive attack by RAM mercenaries on your base. You reach a dying comrade who tells you to get to the main control room and reactivate the base's missile defence systems. Only by now, the base is being overrun by RAMmers. Next you're sent on a space salvage mission. You come across a derelict spaceship which you can explore. The minute you do, your space tug is sheared away from the derelict and you find that it's infested with uncontrolled (and diseased!) mutants. Your only chance of surviving is if you can take control of the ship. But every time one of your team is hit, he or she becomes infected with the RAM bug and, after a short while, keels over. It's real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Characters are controlled with a joystick that operates a menu system on the bottom of the screen. Most of your progress is made up of first-person perspective exploration. Special screens pop up for key areas and a message window fills in all the other details. A special display is called up whenever the party enters combat and the controls allow you to take command of each individual or let the computer handle all the combat.

You rarely need to flip through the manual, even if you're a complete beginner. On top of this, the game unfolds at a whacking rate. The occasional disk access adds to the tension and in one four-hour session, I was only asked to change the disk once (the game comes on three double-sided disks, complete with a saved game). A second manual, called the Log Book, provides details of the game's creatures and system and dozens of Log Entries. These are used to speed up the game: where a particularly long message has to be conveyed, the game refers you to the Log Book, leaving the disks free for pure adventure.

The graphics are stunning. At their worst, they're clear and efficient and at best they either hit you with neat animations or full screen gobsmacking piccies. Sound effects are minimal but even then, there's a different effect for every weapon, so they're put to good use. If you think you could get hooked, it's worth noting that a number of additional Buck Rogers games are in the pipeline. But this one is enough. It's a massive game and it has a massive price tag. But it's very playable and contains enough adventure to last for many months. All in all, guaranteed to give you bags under the eyes.

Is Buck Rogers the kind of role model we really want? After all, he probably smells...

Let's face it, you'd stink if you spent five hundred years wearing the same clothes. And that's exactly what Buck Rogers did.

What was his excuse? "Er, I fell asleep." Sure.

Even Henry VIII had one bath a year, whether he needed it or not - and he didn't wear a skin-tight silver suit. Buck has to be the dirtiest old man ever (or the oldest dirty man).

No wonder the people who rescued Buck wore protective suites. Wouldn't you?

CF believes that is why he always flew solo in a spaceship. Poo...

1. Very easy to play.
2. Packed with enough adventure to keep you playing for months.
3. Very fast, considering the size of the game.
4. Excellent use of graphics gives you animated windows and full-screen pictures to illustrate key moments.
5. Compatible with TSR's role-playing game.
6. Clear, concise documentation.
7. The Log Book saves valuable disk space for the game itself!
8. The scenarios keep you on the edge of your seat.
9. Oodles of game options.
10. Forthcoming releases.

1. High price tag (it should be on cart!)