Many aeons into the future, the human race built a long tube that absorbed all of the rubbish that was generated by the planets in the system. However, one planet, T'ufo, is notorious for its dirtiness, and has sent a ship called Rath-tha to destroy the tube. You have to guide a spaceship along the tube, take it into outer space, and ultimately reach Rath-tha and blast it to smithereens. This is an average vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up. It's a blatant Spectrum port, so the graphics lack colour, and the scrolling is slow as well. Despite this, it's not that bad, and it's not as difficult as some shoot-'em-ups I could name; I managed to reach the third stage out of four after a few attempts. The music on the menu is terrible, though!

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The Solar System's Planetary Orbiting Co-Ordinator has malfunctioned and all the planets are out of alignment. A droid called XR3 has been sent into the Co-Ordinator, which is actually an enormous maze. You must explore it, find the nine planets, and place them around the Sun. Although there are no enemy aliens or robots in the maze, there are traps which will catch you out if you're not careful. Signposts will allow you to access new areas, but you will usually need to search the maze thoroughly to find the new passageway. Crowns can also be collected for bonus points. The graphics are simple, and the scrolling is very smooth, but the sheer size and emptiness of the maze makes this a very dull game indeed, even for the most die-hard puzzle fans.

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Motion Picture Productions are making two new films and require you to play the part of a stuntman in three scenes from these films. In the first part, you must rescue some people trapped in a burning building and defuse some bombs. In the second part, you're in a car and have to collect rockets dropped by a helicopter while leaping over buses and barrels while dodging other obstacles. You're in a helicopter for the third and final part in which you just shoot other helicopters and dodge obstacles. It's pretty average stuff, really, and the graphics aren't anything special. The tune is good, though.

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There are actually three Rebelstar games, and it's a real shame that this is the only one that was released for the CPC. The Rebelstar Raiders are planning an ambush on Moonbase Delta to destroy five laser defences and the moonbase's central computer, ISAAC. This is a turn-based strategy game where you must think tactically as to how you are going to move your forces and kill the droid guards, without your own forces being shot and killed. There are eight difficulty levels, and even though there is only one mission (in contrast to Laser Squad, by the same programmer, which has five), you'll come back to it again and again – especially if you can find a human opponent to play against!

See also: Laser Squad.

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Rufus has been caught as a stowaway on a spaceship and has been ordered by the captain to collect some diamonds from the nearby planet of Killey. Needless to say, this isn't easy. Each level consists of a single screen with some blocks and lots of empty space, and Rufus must find some way of bridging the gaps between sections by laying some blocks, while also collecting the diamonds and avoiding the monsters – and it's mostly the monsters which make this make so annoying. They move unpredictably, and crash into you when you're not expecting them to, and worse, Rufus can only fire one bullet at a time. The graphics are nothing special and the animation is rather jerky, but it would still be a satisfactory game were it not for the behaviour of the monsters.

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Red Heat
(Ocean, 1989)

Ivan Danko is hunting down the Russian drug baron, Viktor Rostavili. The film saw Danko (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) teaming up with the Chicago cop Art Ridzik. In this game, he's nowhere to be seen; it's four levels of pure violence as Danko beats up anyone and everyone in his path. You can collect bonus coins along the way, which may give you extra energy or take you into one of several sub-games you can play. Beat-'em-ups aren't my thing, anyway, and even hardened fans may well be put off by the dull graphics, the tiny screen size that is used, and the game's agonisingly slow pace.

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Red LED
(Starlight, 1987)

Three ZMX battle-droids must explore dozens of isometric landscapes which are arranged on a grid in the form of a hexagon. Your aim is to create a link from the left side of the hexagon to the right, by collecting all of the energy pods on certain landscapes. You can choose which battle-droid to send into action on each landscape; each is supposed to have its own characteristics, but in practice, they all behave fairly similarly. There are lots of enemies to battle against, and you must be careful not to fall off the edge of the landscapes, otherwise you'll lose precious time – and with only 60 minutes to create the link, you'll need every second! This is a highly challenging and quite engrossing game with colourful graphics. It's easy to learn but tough to master.

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You have been sent by the Terran Confederation Star Commandos on a mission to the Bombyx Moons to defeat the evil Necrons, who are mining the moons to obtain the valuable mineral Talanite. Your Death Scorpion is equipped with several types of weapon and has four different visual modes, each of which allows you to see certain objects that would otherwise be hidden. You must also be careful not to shoot civilian Bombyx targets, otherwise you will be charged with war crimes! What could have been a fairly straightforward 3D shoot-'em-up is instead a slow and overly complex affair. There are lots of keypresses to be memorised, and the system for destroying incoming Necron missiles (where you must find the correct wave pattern in order to destroy them) is very cumbersome and detracts from the action.

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A Breakout clone with 50 zones but a difficulty level that's so high that it's more than likely that you will only see the first three. Become a Reflex Rider and destroy all the bricks (or 'grid components' as the game calls them) in each zone. Alternatively, you can collect the exit bonus if it appears, and there are other bonus icons which can be collected. Your reflex capsule (otherwise known as the bat) has a limited amount of power which also acts as the number of lives you have; using the turbo on your capsule, or the laser, if you've collected the appropriate bonus icon, decreases your power. The graphics are colourful and the music on the menu is nice, but the gameplay is just too difficult.

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Relief Action
(Loriciels, 1987)

A laboratory assistant on the NMI spaceship accidentally created a monster which has massacred the entire crew. You are the only survivor, having entered one of the cryogenic chambers before it was too late. Now you must find the shuttle and escape. The ship consists of about 50 rooms and corridors, and you'll find objects which will allow you to access some parts of the ship. Fans of the Freescape games will feel right at home with this game (provided you can understand French); everything takes place in a full 3D environment, and if you can find a pair of 3D glasses, you can use them to enhance the 3D effect even further – quite a nice innovation! There's no sound, but it only increases the tension as you walk the empty corridors of the spaceship, hoping that the monster isn't around the next corner...

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