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Firebird seems to have had a bad dose of budget diarrhoea recently. They seem to have a release for every software classification available. Their latest, Warhawk, is a worthy attempt to cash in on the recent shoot-'em-up revival.

The actual plot couldn't be simpler. Fly Warhawk into the Asteroid belt, destroying the enemy bases, wiping out the marauding hordes of enemy Starfighters. In plain language, Warhawk is a very enjoyable vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up.

When you press fire, your warhawk craft is blasted from the mothership, onto the metallic surface of the Asteroid. (Heavy shades of Uridium here) soon all kinds of aliens hurl themselves at you with much ferocity. Some deft twirling of the joystick and a few uncontrolled bursts of fire soon takes care of those.

At the end of each level, the scrolling stops and a million enemy craft home in on you. Those without an Auto-fire will find themselves experiencing massive bouts of cramp (reminiscent of that experienced whilst playing Pitstop II) others into sado-masochism will adore it. When all the aliens have been wiped out you can move onto the next asteroid and so on.

The graphical representation throughout the game is very good and, whilst the scrolling is pretty slow, it is extremely smooth and clear. The aliens are very fast and even boast a fair degree of intelligence. Something which most or Uridium's nasties did not. Flying blobs which home-in on you pose a particular problem.

The music by Rob Hubbard is very good but it just doesn't suit the game. It's a pretty slow 'whiney' affair and just hurts the ears as you play the game. A simple electro-drum beat would have been more suited.

At two quid, Warhawk is very well presented. It has a good loading screen and, instead of lines, a new energy system has been used. This means that you don't constantly stop and start. Very effective indeed.

A good shoot-'em-up is always in demand and, at the price, I don't see why it shouldn't go straight into the top five.