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Quicksilva's Star Soldier takes the basic Commando idea to its limits. It casts you as a galactic mecenary who must battle his way through a staggering 100 scenarios to earn enough money to buy some decent weapons.

Using your available credits, you must arm yourself with as many grenades, smart bombs, explosives and energy packs that you can afford and the biggest gun that you can carry. Then you literally head for the stars.

Your computer allows you to punch up the information on any of the planets in the system as well as the appropriate job that needs special services. These range from retiring space pirates to putting down rebellions. All the information is there that you will need to plan your mission, including the strength of the opposition (ranges from the encouraging "non-existent" to the worrying "Elite") and the rate of pay or the job. This is represented as a multiple of your present rate which depends on your level. You can buy an increase in level for 1,000 credits but since your starting rate is only 100 this could take some time. Nothing is free in Star Soldier. Even saving the game costs you 500!

In the mission, you're on your own against swarms of enemy troops. The terrain varies with scenario from the decks of a spaceship complete with automatic gun emplacements to jungle scenes with bridges spanning great rivers.

The object of each mission is simply to get to the far left hand end while avoiding as many of the enemy energy sapping bullets as possible. Every time you're hit you lose about half of one energy cell. Lose them all and your game comes to an abrupt end.

Blasting the enemy not only earns you credits but also a bonus in the objects they leave behind. These include bonus credits, energy hotspots to refuel your cells and temporary shields to protect you in battle. Unfortunately, you can also lose energy as some are booby trapped.

As the difficulty of the mission increases you'll have to face more and more enemy troops until you have to weave your way through a snow storm of bullets just to survive. If things get too desperate you can always beam yourself back to base with a warp drive - but at a cost.