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Jim Bagley (Aka. Baggers) is a fabulous programmer. It was he who crammed Dragon's Lair into a ZX81 don't you know - getting a Guiness World Record for his efforts too! Alas, it seems he's not quite as adept at piloting space rockets though. If there's a single random lump of space debris orbiting a planet he'll inevitably crash into it and rip his rocket apart into three equal pieces.

He's also a bit of a survivalist and has a 100% survival rate for all the crashes he's ever been involved in. Quite handy as this gives him the opportunity to rebuild and refuel his rocket and carry on flying through space towards his next collision.

Rusty Pixels comprises team members Michael Ware and Jim Bagley - the wizards of writing the code. Lobo is working his magic on graphics and Space Fractal is making awesome sounds and tunes. As well as Baggers In Space, Rusty Pixels have also been working on another five Spectrum Next titles - Tyvarian, Crowley World Tour, Revival Survival, Scramble and Warhawk, so look out for these on your travels through cyberspace! With Warhawk and Tyvarian, you won't have to look far, as they are reviewed in Blast Annual 2020 too!

At the title screen, you're given a few pointers and the control options whilst Baggers waits patiently, floating around outside his rocket. You can use QAOP and Space or redefine keys by pressing 'R', or use a joystick.

After an initial cut-scene showing Baggers in an unfortunate collision, the first playable screen treats you to the biggest homage to Jetpac ever seen. Complete with little meteors, rocket parts to build, floating platforms and falling treasures. Then after you've pieced your rocket together a box of TNT drops down instead of the usual fuel and the game goes into H.E.R.O. mode.

On the first stage, a flashing arrow indicates where you must drop the TNT. After you do, and it explodes, part of the ground gives way and you can venture beneath the planet's surface. Here is the planet's underground facility containing all manner of enemies and obstacles such as robots, aliens, lasers, rockets, bullets, fireballs and spikes, which all reduce your health bar. The reason you're down here is to find the all-important fuel for your rocket. Three fuel packs are required to fill your vessel and take off. But you need to work fast before your air supply runs out.

The network of underground chambers and passages is not so big that you need paper and pencil to map it out but you still need to commit it to memory to discover the quickest route in getting the fuel and departing the planet. The map is also wrap around which can be useful. There are treasures, air cylinders and health packs to collect. If you recover an idol you'll get something special like Points, Slime or Speed.

At the end of each stage you receive bonus points for health and air remaining and then it's on to the next random rock collision disaster with a different looking lump for each planet you encounter ranging from a well known 'Speccy' mascot encased in ice to the Doctor's time-travelling phone box. Your health and air are back to the max for the start of the next mission. Every planet has its own name, colour, rock collision intro, surface and facility layout, music, graphics, enemies, obstacles and difficulty.

So it's quite exciting to complete the escape from a planet to see what's offered up on the next. The planets I discovered ranged from Egyptian looking, on 'Tootanky', to pink ice, on 'Hielos', to steampunk, on 'Bangho'.

If you run out of air or health you die. When this happens Baggers unsurprisingly goes directly to heaven on his angel wings. Let's face it, nobody who is as friendly as this is going anywhere else. And that's not the end of it. There's a continue option which allows you to replay the game from the last planet you visited, with your score, quite rightly, set back to zero. Graphics are extremely smooth, well animated with nice touches like the particles firing out of Jim's rocket pack. Scenery for each facility has a wonderful amount of detail and backgrounds are never sparse.

Sound consists of a bunch of excellent tunes for the start of the game, the end of the game, the high score table entry and a different tune for every planet you visit. Spot effects are also of a high calibre most of the time.

The difficulty curve is spot on. I completed the first planet on my first attempt. The more planets I completed the more attempts were required to complete the next. Getting a high score is nice but my addiction was more about reaching the next planet to see what treats were in store. This is the oldest trick in the video game book and this game ramps it up to an unbelievable level.

The sound of the laser was a bit too noisy. The planets with duplicate maze type screens seemed unnecessary to me.

Overall, Baggers In Space is basically Activision's H.E.R.O. in space, with a bit of Jetpac thrown in. You might not think that's highly original but the game is so perfectly polished and well balanced that you're past caring once you start playing. It's one of the best games I've ever played and right up there with Warhawk on the Next.