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"It had to be a nightmare," begins the blurb. It was, there were no instructions and it took me at least half an hour to work out the basics.

Return Of The Space Warrior (you never do get to find out where he's been!) is a pretty weird game, once you find out how it actually works.

The intro screen tells you the number of players - one, the skill level - one, and that you are playiing with the keyboard. The only problem is there doesn't seem to be any easy way to alter these settings. There surely exists a two player option, higher skill levels and a joystick option; how you get them is anybody's guess.

There is, however, one clue provided at this stage - Press A to start. Having done this, you are presented with the screen, half a dozen little platforms. The next ten minutes are spent trying every combination of keys on the C64's keyboard. Before long, you will discover that the only keys required are A - to propel you into the air, L to go left and one of the square brackets to go right.

Accompanied by some great sound, your craft emerges on one of the platforms. Your ship is of an advanced design type known as an ovulasphere. To the inexperienced layman, it looks very much like an egg on a surfboard, but is, in fact, a very sophisticated piece of machinery. Before you know where you are, enemy ovulaspheres are turning up all over the place. This is where the extremely advanced weaponry of the 21st Century comes in handy (it doesn't actually say the game is set in the 21st Century, but judging by the advanced technology on show it must be). Expertly manipulating your gravity smash you must dispose of the enemy ovulaspheres.

In practice, this involves manipulating your craft above the enemy and then smacking into it. As luck would have it, more often than not you end up below them just prior to impact, and you are the one to lose out.

That's about it really. When you destroy the ovulaspheres they turn into what I can only describe as square blobs, which you must pick up from bonus points, before they turn back into surfing eggs. When a screen is cleared, it's on to the next wave.

Like I said, a weird game. Space Warrior has some nice ideas, but I get the impression maybe it's a rushed, super low budget job. Apart from the Minteresque sound effects, there's nothing spectacular about it. A good idea let down a little bit by the presentation.