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Back in the mists of time, the legendary Skyfox took to the skies to fight off unprovoked alien tank attacks on terran colonies. And now, some two years later, those pesky alien Xenomorphs are at it again, and all hopes are fixed on the new super-sophisticated rink-dink Skyfox II warpfighter to preserve truth, justice and the American way.

Like the earlier game, Skyfox II is an import from American-based Electronic Arts, and is another shoot-'em-up and simulation exercise. But this time the emphasis is more on the simulation side: the 16-page instruction manual and the accompanying star map mean that it's going to be several hours before you feel at home in the cockpit, and when you eventually take off into the wastes of space you'll find that space flight is exactly what you always feared it would be - pretty damn tedious.

Piloting the Skyfox II is no pushover. There are energy, shield and damage gauges to watch, a scan monitor which can toggle between short, medium and long range as well as fore and aft views. Warning messages flash up when the enemy's about to attack, and a target identifier displays oncoming craft in different colours to denote which side they're on. There's the usual battery of weapons - photon bulse bombs, anti-matter mines and neutron disruptors - and a Head Up Display targeting system locks on to any starbases and craft in the vicinity and shows its proximity.

All these and other functions (decept device, transmission interceptor, shields, etc, etc) mean that you're going to need at least three hands to manipulate both joystick and keyboard, especially at times of crisis.

Crucial to the whole business of Skyfox II is, however, getting to understand the map of the Cygnus constellation and the navigation and docking procedure. Most missions order you to fly to a particular region of starbase, and the (x,y) co-ordinates can be calculated using the star map, and then selected on the navigation screen. The autopilot can then be switched on, and all you have to do is override the autopilot whenever you're passing through an asteroid belt - which is most of the time, in my experience.

Some of the missions you can choose from are relatively low-risk no-nonsense shootouts, like 'Intruder Alert', but these are also often disappointingly short (one such foray lasted only 29 seconds before returning to base and a hero's welcome). Others include escorting damaged frigates, locating the ancient starbase Boondockia, or acting as bodyguard to a peace ambassador. The more complex the mission, the longer it takes, and the more time you spend travelling through endless showers of meteorites, with only the occasional Xenomorph attack to relieve the monotony.

There are short-cuts called wormholes scattered throughout the Cygnus star system which theoretically should reduce the gigantic playing area to manageable proportions, but beginners will find that they usually emerge from a wormhole several light years away from their destination.

From the polished illustrations which depict each mission, to the solid spacecraft, starbases and asteroids of the flight sequences, the graphics are impressive and smoothly animated. There's no much in the way of sound, but that doesn't seem to matter, and the frequent access to disk doesn't interfere with play.

Flawlessly presented and handsomely packaged, Skyfox II suffers from an excess of realism and a lack of fun. It's more likely to appeal to fans of flight simulations than the shoot-'em-up brigade, and even the former might tire eventually of playing dodgems with yet another load of floating rocks.