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Gyborg 389273, Kowolski J, is a byproduct of 22nd Century combat on the surface of Titan. Once human, he was a trooper in the elite marine corps, a stereotypically mad German scientist combined his remaining limbs with a mass of computer-assisted mechanical technology to create the first in a series of experimental models.

Kowolski is now known as the RemOTe Offworld Xenoprobe, Mark 1 - ROTOX 1, for short. The 22nd century is not unlike many others: ROTOX has to be quality-tested at the Solar Exploration Company's training complex beyond the orbit of Neptune, and market forces will determine his future.

If he survives the nightmare environment of deadly machines, hostile life-forms and shifting terrain, he becomes a lethal fighting machine. If he fails, the identity of Kowolski becomes a memory.

The most immediate impression created by ROTOX is the near-nauseous sensation caused by the Rotoscape system. The effect is similar to that in Namco's coin-op Assault, where the landscape and all its occupants rotate around the player. It's a very effective tool, and one which transforms an ordinary shoot-'em-up into an enjoyable blaster-cum-platform game. Part of the fun comes from getting disoriented and not knowing where to go next.

The backgrounds themselves are brilliantly designed - difficult, but not insurmountable - and you soon learn to use the old Battlezone technique of reversing away and turning from enemy fire.

The alien enemies aren't the most imaginatively designed, but the combination of dodging and returning enemy fire whilst trying to maintain your footing on shifting terrain is extremely compelling.

It's this aspect which demands most skill and which proves the most rewarding. ROTOX doesn't have great visual or aural effects, but its structure, variety and unique graphical system make it one game to watch out for.

The testing complex comprises ten terrains, each divided into nine sectors. Every landscape is unique in design and offers individual problems: some are populated by particularly hostile opponents, most contain plenty of platform obstacles.

Each sector always plays host to hostile aliens, all of whom are able to reduce ROTOX's shield capability - their relative position is displayed on the radar to the right of the screen. Only when the sector is cleared of all opposition can ROTOX progress.

Falling off the edge of a platform means that vital energy is lost along with any weapons collected. Between section platforms are often the narrowest and most severely shifting areas - who said walking was easy?!

Complete one terrain and ROTOX is warped to the next - and it's inevitably more hostile. Level Two mostly comprises a few new aliens, a lot of the old ones and some excruciatingly tight platform obstacles.

All terrains feature bolt-on equipment to collect (often heavily guarded). These grey canisters contain items such as extra energy, jetpack fuel and new weapons. Both ROTOX's and his opponents' armoury has a limited range.

ROTOX meets a crushing defeat at the hands of his adversaries. In this animated sequence, the exhausted hero gets compressed into a cube of scrap, ready for the heap. Better luck next time...

What's said of the ST version applies here. The only noticeable difference when the two are played side by side is the beefier sound.

Supporting CGA, EGA and VGA, PC ROTOX will have music and effects compatible with AdLib and Roland sound boards.