Remove the star and what do you have? Yes, you have that good old arcade favourite Defender.

For the uninitiated, you're in command of the last space fighter in your fleet. You have to stop the alien landers from picking up and carrying off your humans.

But this version has a trick or two, such as your ship being able to become invisible for five seconds; very handy. Also also you have the 'star-gate' which transports you somewhere in space.

There are the mandatory aliens to face, things like 'Mutants', 'Baiters' and 'Space-hums'. These Space-hums fly behind you and try to collide with you; Baiters arrive if you have not destroyed after a certain time. The mutants appear when a lander takes a human to the top of the screen; there he/she/it mutates and will attack you with mindless vengeance.

The graphics and sound are quite good: large well-defined aliens and smooth graphics makes Star Defender one of the best versions of Defender yet produced. A good game all round.