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The universe is under threat again, folks, but the action is taking place low over what looks like good old Mother Earth. And not an alien in sight.

As pilot of a fighter plane, you must fly low over a wide expanse of enemy territory, destroying their emplacements with your air-to-ground cannon.

Though you never see the enemy, they hit back with barrages from their many flak batteries, the fire getting more vicious the further you progress into the heart of their stronghold.

Your ultimate mission is to reach and destroy Computer Control, the enemy HQ.

From your birds-eye view of the ground, what you see first is four of your green and white striped fighter planes sitting beside a short runway. One automatically moves smartly to the left and jets swiftly into battle.

A cross-sight sits permanently a small distance before the nose of your craft, both moving in unison. To shoot an enemy battery, the cross-sight must sit precisely over the target when your repeat-fire cannon is triggered.

As your craft moves around the screen, the Panorama is smoothly and steadily scrolling downwards. The first sweep of scenery comprises roads, tress and fields. Among these are rectangular and triangular batteries from which the flak pours forth.

A variety of batteries require destruction. Some have doors which even open and close, and can only be destroyed when gaping wide. Some are flat-roofed buildings, the only way to knock these out is to determine the exact source of fire. Others are hexagonal clusters or form conglomerations.

HQ itself resembles a large-scale computer motherboard, full of batteries designed like chips. At the heart of this is a chip clearly labelled 6502 - your main target.

When a plane is hit, the next zooms along the runway to where the previous one was destroyed. Seeing the terrain scrolling away at a rate of knots when this happens is most impressive. Once all your planes are knocked out, it's back to the beginning.

There are two-player and two skill level options. Sound, colour and graphics are of a high standard.

This is several notches above most shoot-'em-ups in terms of originality. It is well implemented and is both exciting and addictive.