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Just when you thought you'd killed your last invader, and you'd never want to see another row of aliens, galaxians, or anything else lined up at the top of your screen, someone comes along with a new variation and you're addicted once more - or I was, at least.

In this single-player game, you're attacked by vultures who are attempting to drop - well, use your imagination about that. The joystick helps you keep down your cleaning bill, and the only aim is to wipe out the waves of increasingly fast-moving vultures as you head for that high-score that's recorded at the top of the screen.

This early review copy came without a cassette insert, though J Morrison's packaging has never been of the most professional. This does tend to detract a little from the programs, which are usually very good.

The program is auto-run, and offers you slow, medium and fast speeds. The blue and yellow vultures line up at the top before peeling off individually to zig-zag down the screen in what is initially at least a reasonably slow and predictable manner. But that doesn't last long, and while you only have to contend with the birds one at a time, a nasty trick is that on reaching the bottom they come back up (obviously eating that seed that makes birds bounce with health) in a faster, more erratic manner.

They flap about till you can pick them off, a flying vulture netting you 200 points while one still in the holding pattern earns you half that amount. There are no mother vultures gliding randomly across the top, but once you've managed to wipe out the flying birds a row of eggs will hatch out one at a time to present you with - yes, supervultures, which move even faster.

As with Galaxians, the best technique is to glide under the birds and shoot them as they move, being careful to keep out of corners, though when they do eventually get you, one way or another, and you lose one of your three lives, you'll be subjected to a burst of derisory chirruping... or whatever noise vultures make.

Vultures is an amusing and addictive variation on an old favourite. It is reasonably priced, and as it is written in machine code, is fast. It should provide a messy challenge to most people.