As Earth wars become more and more dangerous, costing the lives of an incredible number of people, scientists begin research into the development of 'enhanced' animal species capable of surviving nuclear attacks, thus eliminating the fear imposed by enemy warheads.

Research has been going well for a number of years - so well, in fact, that nuclear war has been discarded altogether and the governments are returning to traditional (and arguably less devastating) battlefield combat.

Unfortunately, as is the way with genetic experimentation, a biological demon has been found in our midst. Within the galactic breeding ground a deadly plague has broken out. The virus spreads quickly, affecting the bodies and minds of all victims.

Once peaceful 'super-humans' have been transformed into evil, mutated warriors, hell-bent on causing death and destruction across the scientific complex. Some of the scientists are trapped within the complex, suffering from early symptoms of the disease.

You play a mighty soldier, your body adapted by laser surgery to protect you from the virulent illness. Armed with the latest laser weaponry you must infiltrate the now-ruined complex and wipe out the mutants, rescuing any survivors who may yet still be saved by precision surgery.

At the beginning of the game you are armed with a laser rifle that can be powered to release a dangerous 'mega-blast' beam, destroying all in its path. Attackers may swoop in from all directions, however, so picking up extra weapons may come in useful for picking off jet-attackers and the more heavily armoured against the foe.

At the end of each stage is a grotesque mutated being that will soak up a number of shots before it explodes, allowing you to gain access into the deeper regions where the effects of the plague are even more apparent. Just remember - they were all human once!

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

The Plague has some extremely nice graphics, with well drawn and colourful backgrounds scrolling smoothly behind the impressive sized sprites - the animation could have been a touch more interesting, though. The real problem is the sound. The music sounds thin and incredibly dated and the sound effects are just too weak to be true. The powerful image invoked by the graphics is completely lost when the game is played with the volume on anything but 'off'.

LASTING INTEREST

The levels themselves aren't really that difficult to master. All that has to be learnt to romp straight through is the order in which the aliens appear. The difficulty starts when the end-of-level guardian is reached. A combination of vibrating trigger finger, luck and telepathy is needed to judge the timing of jumping, and ducking while still piling the shots in. After dying a dozen times at the hands of the same alien, frustration and broken joysticks are a formality.

JUDGEMENT

Despite the nice appearance, The Plague is nothing more than a run-jump-blast shoot-em-up in the mould of many arcade games circa 1985. Very little has been done to bring the game up to the level of gameplay expected in the Nineties.

The blond bombshell is here, pumped-up and powerful. But make no mistake. This hunk of beefcake is no pretty poser. He packs a mean punch. If aliens had any real sense, they would avoid him like a well-known cliché.

Admittedly, we've all seen something similar to this game. But what it does, it does well.

What we have here is left-to-right horizontally scrolling platform action in a plague-ridden planet. The inhabitants have become hideously mutated. You have to stop the plague spreading, containing it before everything ends in a mutated mess. In other words, kill everyone before they kill you.

And to eradicate the creeps you are equipped with some real heavy-duty hardware. The initial gun spits out death in rapid fire. You get an endless supply of bullets. Hold the fire button down and it changes to shoot out a powerful bolt of red death. Not only that, hit the space bar and a smart bomb purges a lot of nastiness from the screen. But not all. It appears that the really big mutants can't be destroyed. You have to dodge them.

The mutants in the early stages are varied - things which look like skeletal fish erupt from the ground, large mutant flies bomb around, weapon-equipped mutant troops dash about, bubbles of deadly gas kill on contact and, my particular favorite, huge eyeballs spew from a well. There are other weapons to collect, although these do not last indefinitely. The three-way laser is particular nifty.

The main character is impressively large, as are many of the mutants, the scrolling nice and smooth. All things sprite and beautiful.

My only gripe is that when you get killed you don't start at the same point again. I hate having to keep going over old ground. There's even what appears a free design-your-own-facility. But, I must admit, I never fully investigated. I prefer the action.

And action is what you get. Heroic, hot, fast and furious. Get infected by it.