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Though hardly the most originally-conceived game idea this decade, Tiger Mission, by Danish software house Kele-Line, certainly seems to be a quality shoot-'em-up, with attractively clean graphics, 8-directional movement and five lengthy levels to complete - including a very tough spot of precision landing on the X-shaped pad at the end of each stage.

You are Brett Johnson, strike-helicopter pilot, and you've been ordered to attack the enemy's two Tiger Class aircraft carriers. First, however, you've got to get through an intricate defence network devised by your foe, a seemingly endless array of tanks, ships, submarines and gun emplacements, and this is where the problems begin.

You start the game with very limited firepower in your little chopper, and disposing of enemy craft and installations involves your having to fly extremely close to your targets, in order to get within range. The enemy has no such problems, however, and their missiles travel the length an dbreadth of the screen. Add to this, the fact that your speed and manoeuvrability are also initially very limited, and when you further understand that the enemy tend to appear on your screen in groups and fire missiles in completely random directions, you begin to realise that your chances of ever making it past the first few screens are very slim indeed.

The frustrating thing is that if you do somehow manage to survive the first two minutes of the game, chances are you'll be able to acquire the extra speed and firepower that you need to have a sporting chance of survival. You do have a limited number of Smart bombs which will clear the screen of your foes, but you'll still find it terribly difficult to make it to the second level. An added irritant is that every time you lose a life you have to go back to the very beginning of the entire level. After your first twenty or so times, you really start to hate the fact that every smidgen of progress you do manage to make, is completely wiped out and set at nought with your first slip, and it's back once more to the infuriating "Get read to enter level 1" screen.

The second major criticism I'd have to make - though it wasn't a problem which I personally ran into - is that if you do happen to be the kind of quicksilver mutant that can get past the initial obstacles, the later levels don't seem to become very much more complicated, so you might well find yourself bored quite quickly.

As variations on the 1942 theme go, Tiger Mission is definitely attempting to be something a bit special - its graphics are excellent (I was particularly taken with the shadow the helicopter cast on the ground below as it flew along) and there's an extremely nifty Eurosynth-type soundtrack. But in their zeal to make the game tough, Kele-Line seem to have been a bit too clever for their own good.

Unless you are a true shoot-'em-up whizz, you're probably going to get frustrated pretty quickly at this not-at-all user-friendly game, while those few who are able to handle the initial challenges may soon become bored with the lack of any real progression.