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The alien hordes have, once again, risen from the murky depths of their galactic hideaways and taken to the stars in order to conquer some more planets. This time they've arrived at our solar system, and using their advanced weaponry and cunning tactics, they've conquered every single planet - including Earth!

As the owner of a fine, Darius-class attack space vehicle, you decide to take on the might of this hostile alien empire, using all your laser-powered weapons to blast the xenomorphs into oblivion. This involves traversing a number of horizontally scrolling worlds blasting all-and-sundry with your guns and bombs, collecting power-ups on the way (sounds familiar?).

You'll need all your shoot-'em-up skills to survive the epic confrontations with each level's end-of-level boss. Their zap guns and missiles have been fully primed for maximum destruction - and only a real hero can send them all packing!

The destruction of some aliens results in a rather nifty power-up pod being left behind. Collection of this usually results in one of your craft's weapons systems being substantially upgraded. Here's a run-down of some of the most common icons.

1. Laser The Darius craft is equipped with lasers the blast everything above and below the ship. Later power-ups change this to front-firing diagonal lasers and finally four-way diagonal beams.

3. Defence A powerful shield covers the Darius, and protects it from several direct hits. The colour of the shield shows how healthy it is.

4. Bomb The Darius is endowed with powerful bombs that blitz anything stupid enough to stay below. Collect another pod to double your bombing potential.

As for the other six possible endings... well, you'll just have to buy the game and get blasting, won't you?

I can't believe how many horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-ups are being released on the Megadrive at the moment - it's getting a bit much.

It's a pretty challenging game, and its lastability is boosted considerably thanks to the fact that there are 26 levels to fight through and seven different endings to see.

Darius II isn't exactly heavy on the originality, but if you're after a slick and playable blaster which won't lose its appeal overnight, have a crack at this.

Although the blasting action isn't as good as Gynoug or Hellfire, the game is designed for lastability. With a massive 26 levels to wade through and all the different endings, it'll be a long time before you get bored with this game.

It's only really this aspect that makes the game worth a look, because the graphics and sound are nowhere near as good as Gynoug, and some of the levels are quite samey. Also, some better power-ups would've made Darius a more appealing game.

Presentation 69%
Plenty of options, but the attract sequences are very underwhelming.

Graphics 77%
Small but detailed sprites with pretty decent scrolling backdrops.

Playability 89%
Easy to get into from the outset, with instantly addictive arcade action.

Lastability 84%
Loads of endings and 26 levels combine to produce a long-lasting game.

Overall 83%
An excellent shoot-'em-up with plenty of lasting appeal - check it out if you haven't already had your fill of blasting games.