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Virgin, the record company who, last year, branched out into games software are now gaining a reputation for quality software. The Space Command package is no exception. Although this is basically a shoot-'em-up game, along the Defender/Scramble format, the attractive graphics, good sound, and quality packaging make this an attractive product at 5.95.

The task is to defend a doomed city on an asteroid against very colourful marauding aliens. If they penetrate the city's force field you, as the sole defending rocket ship, lose a life. The force field lowers with each hit to conserve energy - leaving high buildings vulnerable to attack - this means that difficulty increases with inept play. You will become very frustrated if you do not learn by your mistakes.

This is a game that should retain its addictive qualities longer than most. A wide choice of different joystick interfaces, a combination of joystick and keyboard, or the keyboard alone can be used. There is also a choice of different defending spacecraft and the attacking aliens can be armed or unarmed - armed aliens greatly increase the difficulty whilst adding a pleasant variation to the standard format.