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There's nothing like having a big, meaty gun in your hands to make you feel in complete control. Unfortunately, Ocean's conversion of the coin-op with the biggest, meatiest guns ever dispenses with them in favour of a mouse, joystick or Trojan Light Phazer, which just isn't really the same.

Anyway, Space Gun takes you deep into the future, on board an earth-bound cargo ship that's been hijacked by aliens. The powers that be have deemed that the only feasible way of rescuing the hostages is to send a couple of heavily-armed soldiers in to kill everything that moves. How's that for inter-galactic diplomacy?

Throughout the ship, you'll find flashing lights on the wall (hey, what space ship is complete without a few flashing lights and strange bits of machinery that seem to serve no apparent purpose?). Shoot them and extra weapons, equipment and ammo will be up for grabs.

The main task is to rescue as many hostages as possible, within the time limit. However, in the heat of combat, it's all-too-easy to shoot the fleeing humans instead of the aliens. With the added problem of humans that turn into aliens, it's probably best to just kill everything. The action can take you in several directions. Initially you start by moving down an eerie corridor, but quite often you'll arrive at junctions and have to choose whether to go left or right.

Not all the action takes place in the space ship. Learning of more problems on the nearby planet, you nip down to put an end to their evil, colonising ways.

In order to justify this mass carnage of blood-letting, these simple scene-setters crop up between each level.

Not every alien is big, green and multi-limbed, there are plenty of smaller pests to keep your gun overheating. Face huggers are particularly nasty, clinging to the screen and sucking away at your energy.

Every four or five corridors, you'll meet up with the mother alien. Big, hard and fast, they've got every intention of stopping you from succeeding in your mission.

The action can take you in several directions. Initially, you start by moving down an eerie corridor, but quite often you'll arrive at junctions and have to choose whether to go left or right.

It's not just bullets that you can pump into the alien scum/filth/dirtbags/other expletive. With the flick of your barrel, you can unleash a variety of 'smart bomb' style weapons, including flame throwers, freeze rays and a laser blade.

I must admit to being quite a fan of the arcade version of Space Gun (I've almost clocked it but keep blowing up my escape ship!) so I was quite eager to see if Ocean had managed to do a decent job of the conversion.

The answer is definitely a mixed one. There are areas of the computer version that shine through, but they are unfortunately offset by the areas that are distinctly murky. The speed and difficulty of the original are all there (as is the original feature of being able to reverse your direction of travel for a while by pushing Space - a fact not mentioned in the manual.

Unfortunately, the graphics, presentation and playability are what's missing, and it doesn't make for an enjoyable game. It just doesn't have the same thrill or 'loudness' that the arcade version had. I miss the feel of the large pump-action gun on the cabinet (even with the Trojan Light Gun compatibility it doesn't have the same impact) and the sound of the aliens screaming in agony as you killed them.

Space Gun is a competent enough conversion all right. Just not outstanding - and I'm not sure that everyone was as big a fan of the arcade game as I was.