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It's funny that the month after we mention top ZX81 classic 3D Defender in "Don't Quote Us", GBH should choose to re-release a game which is almost exactly that. Thunderstrike looks almost like a flight sim, but in actual fact plays in a manner distinctly reminiscent of the near-legendary Sinclair classic.

In Thunderstrike, you fly around a contoured 3D vector landscape, blasting enemy saucers and protecting, ooh, something or other really important, I shouldn't wonder. (Sorry, background fans, but I got a bit bored of the manual after it took a rather poor-quality pop at F-29 Retaliator and stopped reading). You also have to destroy saucer generators (sort of like in Gauntlet) and play efficiently and excitingly for the TV audience (it's all supposed to be a sort of game show, y'see) in order to get the referees to upgrade your ship for subsequent rounds. You can choose various starting set-ups (there are five ships of different capabilities to fly, and you can fiddle with the graphic detail to improve speed by removing the stippling effect, which is incredibly ugly anyway), and there are fifty levels to clear before you are awarded the ultimate accolade of 'Defender Of The Ground' (woo!).

Sadly, it's all a bit slow and dull, and the bad guys are few and far between much of the time, making the game a lot of uneventful trekking around a near-featureless landscape aimlessly looking for things to shoot. The contoured landscape is quite impressive (as long as you turn the stippling off, anyway), but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.

Moderately entertaining blaster that's not as complicated as first impressions might suggest, but unfortunately lack of depth isn't compensated for by excitement. More 'interesting' than anything...