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Doc Terror is after a stock of Tyron-Dichromate, a substance that can do more damage to the Earth and its ozone layer than even the heaviest user of underarm deodorant.

Max, Jake and Ray are three mere mortals but, on donning their Exoframe suits, they become incredible fighting warriors - Centurions, fusions of man and machine. And only they can stop the evil Doctor's dastardly deeds.

They begin life as powerless droids, but by manoeuvring itself onto a transformation pad, a humble droid is changed into a Centurion.

As our heroes make their way through the landscape surrounding the landscape surrounding the Weapons Development Centre where the Tyron-Dichromate is held, hordes of malignant creatures come after them, howling for their hydraulic fluids. With their basic blasters, the Centurions can destroy these alien thugs, adding weapon upgrades when they've destroyed enough attackers to reveal collectable rectangular Quants.

Contact with an ordinary enemy reduces a Centurion's energy, but if Doc Terror himself is encountered and his image falls upon a Centurion, that warrior is returned to droid form. Back to the old transformation pad...

On each level there are six keys, all surrounded by air, sea or land, and only the Centurion with the capability to cross the encircling terrain can reach the key. When all keys have been collected then the next level can be reached.

With these keys, the three different rooms of the Weapons Development Centre can finally be entered, and there the Centurions can dispose of the cases of dangerous chemicals... by walking into them.

If you want a game in which you can hardly see your character, with trashy sound effects and boring gameplay, then rush out and buy Centurions today. The backgrounds cover up the main sprite terribly (a bit like Wiz...), so you have to strain your eyes just to see what's going on. Reaktor games still have that irritating loading sequence, and no loading screen, so the presentation isn't fantastic. Centurions is a no-go area.

If the TV show is anything like the game then I'm jolly glad I've never seen it. Centurions just doesn't work on the Spectrum; all the things that could go wrong have. The graphics use the weirdest masking technique I've seen in a long time, which makes the characters very hard to distinguish from the grassy background.

Colour couldn't have been used in a more haphazard way - there's clash everywhere. And it's obvious from the outset that this is a straight translation from another machine, not at all customised to the Spectrum's capabilities. I just hope you buyers are more responsible about it than the programmers.

Joysticks: Kempston
Graphics: Shoddy use of colour over uninspiring characters
Sound: Good, original spot FX but poor tune
Options: Definable keys
General rating: A poor licence of a potentially exciting subject