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The air force is in trouble and only you can help. You're the only ace pilot available and there are eight tough missions to be completed, pronto!

You take to the skies in a desperate bid to defeat the enemy and secure the future of the air force (and more importantly your career). The computer flashes a warning, enemy fighters are approaching. Prepare for battle as three tiny black specks appear on the horizon, then it's off to do battle.

Before each mission starts, you must decide what armaments to take. You can choose a combination which includes Sidewinders, Mavericks, Mark 84 bombs, standard cannon magazines and flares.

First Strike draws heavily on Afterburner for inspiration. The action takes place over the same sort of landscapes and the gameplay is almost identical, the only difference being that you have a choice of weapons.

Graphically, First Strike is nothing special. Enemies approaching the screen do not do so very smoothly and, as they get closer many of them become quite blocky. The landscapes are a different matter, they are well defined and move extremely smoothly, giving a real impression of speed.

The sound is a little overpowering, there's lots of it and it comes all at once, leaving you to try and decipher what you're hearing.

The only real problem with the gameplay is that the action is far too fast. You can just about cope with airborne targets, but land-based targets are almost impossible to hit, especially if they're firing back at you.

I don't know how much lasting appeal First Strike has; the gameplay is extremely repetitive, but then again it's just as much fun as a shoot-'em-up ever was.

After Burner fans will probably love First Strike but I'd advise anyone else to take a good look before buying.