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If you read your C.U. thoroughly you may have heard about a new software house called CodeMasters being formed. You probably may have thought these guys only made budget games for the big machines. Well, you're wrong. Terra Cognita has been programmed by one of those Darlings.

The scene is set very well, but more storyline would have been appreciated. Three mining engineers find a Warrior Robot head lying on the ground; one of them tries out his footie skills on it by booting it. It starts babbling on about man destroying Krion (the planet they are currently on), the ground shakes revealing a smooth artificial surface - which is actually the robot's body.

Pressing the Fire button will put you under the control of an escaping ship. Remember, you've destroyed that robot's chest, guess what it wants to do to you? So unless you'd like to end up as space dust, it's advisable for you to get the hell out of this place. But your ship is only designed for use on the 'planet' and the ally that usually gets left behind in the mothership has taken it for a short spin - about a hundred screens away from where you start your escape.

There are several features that this robot planet has got built on it and can be used to your advantage or your disadvantage. These features are used by you steering over strange patches of land, I've got listed here a few (maybe all) of the funny effects that these strange patches of land have on your ship:

1. Fuel Dumps A square with an 'F' on it, try not to miss any or you'll end up a stranded spaceman and die.

2. Extra Life Areas Hit the blocks with an 'L' on them for an extra life.

3. Time Shifts Avoid at all costs, these squares with diagonal lines on them reset everything - your score, your lives and you start from the beginning - Aaaarrgh!!!

4. Acceleration Blocks Your ship has three speeds, hitting photon laser beams, that'll show the aliens what you're made of.

The graphics for this game are truly amazing, smooth, detailed and that horrible sprite block problem has been overcome with startling effects. These guys are definite experts, the best way I can really describe the quality is by saying it's of arcade standard, with the ever popular bas relief (metallic look) graphics. The colouring is superb, the only fault I can find in the graphics is when the aliens flicker, but it only happens at full speed.

The sound is quite good but I wanted more, there have been better examples around though it's good enough. Gameplay was very rewarding, getting to see the next screen was a good achievement (the screen scrolls down as you play) and had me up all night playing, until I clocked it.

For two quid I can assure you you'll be more than satisfied with it. Even though I've done the game in I just still enjoy it, it's the best blast to hit the C16 and Plus/4 since Gullwing Falcon.