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What the hell does it mean, then? Actually, it doesn't matter what SWIV is supposed to stand for. All you need to know is that there's plenty of killing to be done and it's up to you to do it.

SWIV is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up - a cross between Silkworm and Xenon. A helicopter and jeep team battle it out against an endless stream of aggressive enemy fire. You can take control of either vehicle, or you and another player can both play simultaneously.

Each mode of transport has its pros and cons. The chopper has free run of the screen, but has faster high-flying vehicles to contend with. The jeep, on the other hand, is highly manoeuvrable and can easily aoid any slow-moving ground vehicles that challenge it. Unfortunately, it has to manoeuvre around the surrounding scenery - if it gets trapped behind something then you can lose a life.

Although the two vehicles can collide only with things on their level (ground or air), the same is not true of missiles. If any ballistics come your way then you're dead, wherever you are on the screen.

It's frantic arcade action all the way. Hold down the Fire button and you unleash a stream of megadeath from your cannons - no need for auto-fire joysticks in this game. The helicopter always shoots directly forwards, while the jeep shoots in the direction it's facing. Holding down the Fire button causes the jeep to carry on shooting in that direction, even when you change your bearing.

One unusual feature of SWIV is the lack of end-of-level guardians. This is because there aren't any levels in the first place. There's only one level in the game, albeit an extremely long one. Storm use a very clever system whereby sections of the game are loaded up as you go along. It does mean you can't rest in between levels to wipe your sweaty palms, though.

The scrolling slow and smooth, giving you time enough to shoot away the on-screen targets as they appear. The sprites move around quickly and are effectively drawn with warlike green-brown colouring. However this does tend to look a bit dingy at times.

Sound is pretty much what you'd expect: plenty of bangs and explosions and not much else. It isn't particularly inspiring on the whole.

SWIV certainly isn't the most original game ever to be conceived for the ST - it "borrows" ideas from many other similar kinds of games. Even so, these ideas are commbined together quite well, and while SWIV isn't the state-of-the-art in computer gaming, fans of a quick blast are going to have heaps of fun. It's even better when there are two of you. Double the players and you more than double your blasting fun.