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If you thought Gridrunner was tough, Matrix, its successor, will make your hair curl. The screen teems with life and movement, and players run the risk of acquiring Gridders' Syndrome - cross-eyes, dislocated wrist and a king-sized inferiority complex.

Flying your good ship "Gridrunner" around the grid, your task is to wipe out the invading Droids and Cosmic Cameloids. Your ship can move in any direction and can fly anywhere on the grid, barring the top four lines.

There is a nasty little character called the Snitch to add to your miseries, as well as X and Y zappers which fire across and up the screen.

The graphics and sound effects are excellent, the action as fast as you'll find without being near impossible. The title page allows you to choose your starting zone (1-6). Zones 1 and 2 have respectively one and two droids (caterpillar-like aliens) zooming across the grid. If hit, they split at the point of impact and race off in opposite directions. Any droids reaching the bottom of the grid will start bouncing around like demented bees trapped in an empty jam-jar.

Zone 3 increases the tempo by sending in three droids and introduces the Snitch, a sort of boy scout gone bad. This tiny, unpleasant humanoid scuttles along the top of the grid, trying to win his Pathfinder badge by tracking your movements.

Zone 4 adds miniature camels (the author must have been bitten by one as a baby!) to the fleet. Zone 5 brings on the Deflexor, a large, centrally-placed shield which changes shape each time it's hit. Beware ricochets! Zone 6 has the aliens getting serious by dropping bombs.

Thereafter, the action gets wilder and your eyes wider. The aliens start attacking in a variety of combinations, formations and movements.

There were a couple of mistakes on the cassette insert I had. To select the level, press F1 (not 'any key') and to freeze and unfreeze the action, press the Commodore logo key and any key respectively.

Matrix is a high-quality all-action arcade game. It has originality and variety, combined with stunning speed, good graphics, sound and colour. Highly recommended.