Iron Helix

Well, what a surprise. Spectrum Holobyte cordially invite you to embark on yet another one of those top secret, confidential, don't tell anybody (even your friends) missions to save the galaxy from total destruction.

The objective in Iron Helix is to prevent the ss Jeremiah Obrian destroyer from unleashing a doomsday weapon, containing a deadly virus, on the planet Calliop. Alas, all the ship's crew have been infected by the virus and are now out of the equation. You, as the earth's last hope, have to board the ship and disable the targeting computer, or just blow the destroyer to smithereens - whatever it takes.

The game is played out over four phases. The first phase involves collecting dna samples of three high-ranking crew members in order to access restricted areas of the ship. This is the most boring part of the whole affair. The ship has deployed a defender robot to greet unwelcome visitors and he follows you about everywhere you go. This gets to be an utter pain after a while, as you spend the whole first phase running about the ship collecting dna whilst waiting for the mad robot to show up any second and blast you through the roof.

After you've got all the dna you need, it's on to stage two. Find the video clues and solve the puzzles. Off we go again, zooming round the ship looking for video messages and trying to avoid Mr Antisocial Robot. When you find the clues, you will soon discover that they are not really clues at all but complete solutions to the stage you are at. All the video clips show different crew members who offer you handy tips and bypass codes for the computers.

Phase three gives you the opportunity to eliminate the robot who's been driving you nuts all along. This is simply a matter of going to the right location, taking a peep at the clues that are not clues, and entering the code to send old nuts and bolts to robot heaven.

Phase four involves blowing the ship to tiny little bits and isn't really a phase at all because by this time you know exactly what to do, thanks to the extremely helpful video clues. There are three difficulty levels, from beginner to advanced. On higher difficulty levels the dna is much harder to find and there are more rooms so there's no point playing at easy level as it just gives away all the clues and the game's over in a flash. Iron Helix is not the most original game in the world but it does present a reasonable challenge and has some excellent visuals. The first stage is a bit irritating but once you get into it there's just about enough going on to drag you in and keep your attention.