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Raid 2000... it's not exactly what you would call an inspiring title, is it? Frankly the plot's not much better either. Aliens have decided that the earth could have some extremely valuable elements. A vicious race known as the Xanthids whose own lives are sustained by chlorophyll, discover it can be found in plenty here on earth among the plants. You as the commander-in-chief of the Earth's defence have only our pilot skills and four top whack Hypo-jets to save the Earth's skin - or should that be leaves.

Before you launch each Hypo-jet, your ship's computer will show you a map of the world, with your base and the areas where the Xanthids have overrun the Earth's defence, marked on it. You will also see your four Hypo-jets pictured next to your base in the corner. You can control these via the joysticks, so that you may choose which city to defend first. [Dublin obviously - Ed]

Once you've got that sorted out "You're going in!". The objective is simply to blast away at any and everything that moves. Your ship is viewed from above and can manoeuvre on any of the eight directions. The scrolling is notably excellent up to the standard of Parallax.

There are many different forms of aliens to shoot, but each takes more than one shot to destroy. The aliens attack in waves but the odd, fearless pilot decides to kamikazee into you. The ships are incredibly similar to those in Rino's golden oldie Z. I make specific reference to that, as the game owes its whole existence to it. Looking at the screenshots you will notice a strong resemblance to the style of game, but play it and - well, actually don't play it - but even the aliens are the same, even the way the bullets move is identical. Although I try to find a way around using the term, Raid 2000 is, sadly, a rip-off.

The only difference to Z, is that you have an energy bar. This lets you take a few shots before you lose a Hypo-jet. This makes up for the numerous amount of times you have to shoot the Xanthids before they kick the bucket. That's not to say it's easy. It isn't. The toughness in Raid though, is not in the ships, but in the fidgetty controls.

Raid is a jolly game for about ten minutes or so. Any longer and you start to feel your eyelids getting heavy. The trouble is not in the graphics or sound, they are acceptable. The gameplay lacks any grab factor, there is nothing to make you strive to kill the last alien. Mirrorsoft are, or should I say were, going places, but after the marvellous Strike Force Harrier this is definitely a step in the wrong direction.