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If you've been following the 'non-commercial' Commodore 64 scene since the mid-1990s, the chances are that you will have come across Alf Yngve's games before, be it on a public domain disk or through reviews and news of his games through Commodore Format when it was in its last days. One thing that he was noted for was using the popular Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit (colloquially known as SEUCK) to very good effect, creating some of the best examples you'd find with the software creation application.

You therefore won't be too surprised to hear that The Last Amazon Trilogy is authored with SEUCK, and has some hard-coded enhancements that the original tool doesn't include, such as weapons upgrades, music and a non-standard title screen, as well as a sideways scrolling game (the third game on the disk), which is authored on a hacked version of SEUCK.

The point is that, generally speaking, you know what to expect, storyline aside, and while there is some variation in play, there is a certain-feeling of familiarity with these games that you get with many other SEUCK titles, and this is with the extras that have been included.

The story tells of an enthusiastic young UNICEF worker who was sent to some of the most remote parts of South America to vaccinate some of the indigenous tribes there. Her standard-issue kit included a bullet-proof vest, a rifle and a shortwave radio. Particularly fortunate, considering what was about to happen.

In the first game, the Mafia move in to clear the rainforest and evict its inhabitants to start a secret drugs factory. The scantily clad gun-toting babe is the last person who can help preserve and protect the tribes, their local environment and culture. With a seemingly limitless supply of ammunition, off she goes to bust some Mafia drug lords. Later on, you actually find that the military are involved too.

The Last Amazon II plays a lot like Commando in hot-pants, and is probably the best of the series. Settling in Arizona, USA, after taking down the drug-dealing scum and saving the tribes, she's tracked down and the South American Mafia want their revenge.

The third and final game in the series (named Special Edition) is the one which has horizontal instead of vertical scrolling, and - rather unconventionally - sees our heroine travelling from right to left, taking her back to the rainforests. While each game is quite difficult (with the second starting particularly so), there are no random events that I could find, so the safest path can be learnt. And in spite of this, the difficulty curve is nicely weighted with practice. The music in each game is varied and moody, making good use of the SID chip.

This game shows how good Alf is at designing games. If he'd had a more versatile tool to work with, then maybe he could create a true masterpiece. But in relative terms, he has, as within the limited confines of SEUCK, he is the true master. I should also point out the amount of effort that has been put into the packaging and presentation. If you go for the deluxe edition, then you'll get not only full-colour packaging and a real disk box which will sit alongside any of your other Commodore games, but also receive some mocked-up photographs of the games; heroine in action, in all her partially-clothed glory.

Psytronik is certainly leading in the pack in making something worth your hard-earned pocket money just on presentation and packaging alone. Just don't expect anything too original in terms of the game mechanic.

Overall, if you're a shoot-'em-up fan, this trilogy has great value and has excellent packaging. Otherwise, perhaps best to leave this unless you're a collector.