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How do you design a computer game around an invincible superhero? Taito's coin-op certainly didn't manage it, simply dropping the character into a run-of-the-mill scrolling beat-'em-up with no attempt to incorporate such essential elements as Heat Vision, Kryptonite or Lex Luthor.

American software house First Star also failed to make the grade with its 8-bit incarnations released over three years ago. Its latest attempt, however, licensed by Tynesoft, includes these elements in an eight level multi-load format, linked together by a series of 'comic' pages.

Punches, kicks, superbreath and heat vision are all part of Superman's arsenal, with each represented by a separate energy level which should only be exceeded with extreme caution. For example, should the heat vision power run out completely, and the player continue to use this weapon, then it starts to make a large hole in the overall power meter and seriously weakens the hero.

En route to the STAR Laboratories, Superman encounters the advance guard of Darkseid's invading Para-Demon army. Flying into the screen in the mould of Space Harrier, Superman strives to destroy the original demons and their accomplices who appear through a hole in the fabric of space and time.

Either mounted on Concussion Cannons, or flying solo, the demons are best dealt with by blowing back with super-breath and then frazzling with heat vision.

Lois Lane and Governor Lee are being held hostage on board The Atlantis, anchored in Metropolis Harbour. Walking and flying along a scrolling deck scene, Superman does battle with terrorist after terrorist - all decked out in the nattiest of body armour. Kicks, punches and blasts of heat vision put paid to these characters - but watch out for heavily armoured hover-bikes.

In order to save the world, Superman must now escort the Shuttle carrying Professor Gorwin to the STAR Satellite - which means negotiating a vertically-scrolling course with Kryptonite debris making with the normal space junk to cause the superhero even more discomfort).

Superman enters the satellite's airlock and proceeds down the corridors towards the control room. The system's defence robots are out of control and have wrongly identified him as an illegal intruder. The robots' first shots aren't fatal; instead, they simply trap the superhero in a flexible bubble from which he must punch his way or face a hail of more deadly fire.

Before the Professor can get to work, another asteroid storm appears on the scanners. Apart from the fact that Superman is protecting the Satellite instead of the shuttle, this sub-game is identical to Game Three.

Once again Superman heads off into the asteroid storm, this time to be confronted by Darkseid's Mini-Robots. The mechanical terrors emanate from a huge mother robot which awaits our hero at the end of the level.

The unidentified satellite is protected by a huge forcefield - and worse still, it belongs to Lex Luthor. Superman is met by a barrage of gunfire and heat-seeking missiles. Dodging this fire, he uses his telescopic vision to examine the space station and one-by-one knock out its vital sections.

Bursting through the space station's wall, Superman once again finds himself back in Game Four, with nothing to stop him saving the world but another fight along a scrolling corridor.

There's nothing quite as irritating as a game which fails to live up to its potential - especially one which comes as close to hitting the mark as this one. Tynesoft's adaptation of the world's most popular superhero is certainly better than the recent coin-op effort, but it ultimately fails to get the balance right between playability and irritability and ends up falling on the side of the latter.

The eight games are quite nice in their own right (even if repetition does tend to creep in towards the end), but the fact that each must be completed before the next is begun means that most people will end up stuck on the first disk.

The look and sound are both well up to the task in hand - except maybe in the 'between game comic' sections - and otherwise the presentation is first rate. Superman: The Man Of Steel is one of the few licences which actually takes care to incorporate the original character's features and style. It's a pity the execution is flawed.

Although it's common for there to be an aural difference between Commodore and Atari games, the degree of difference is rarely this great. In some ways, the ST Superman is better than the Amiga version (for instance, the slightly slower pace improves the playability), but the sound is so bad that it tends to let the whole show down.