Imagine if a rainbow mated with a piñata... that had fallen into a paint factory! Quite an absurd analogy I admit, but summing up Mutant Storm Reloaded's on-screen colour count needs it, because the overall effect of Pom-Pom Studio's sequel to the hugely entertaining Space Tripper is one of kaleidoscopic psychedelia - but the ability to display colours hitherto unheard of is just one of the game's many interesting facets.

In fact, much of Mutant Storm's appeal comes from its graphics. Though not particularly simplistic, they hearken back to a golden age of gaming, a time where playability mattered and skill was very much in demand. The ships are simple geometric shapes and enemies are often nothing more than spinning diamonds floating over the small arenas (at first, anyway - later on you need to fight tanks, planes and machine-gun turrets). But the presentation of Mutant Storm makes you forget (or overlook) this fact. As you dart around the arenas - themselves glowing neon colours that shift and change as you play - frantically trying to dodge the enemies and their well placed attacks, you hardly notice the cube or sphere that almost ended your high score attempt. Instead you see death; vibrant, multi-tonal death, spinning toward you with a beautiful inevitability. The pace keeps you hooked; there's no time to stop and think or plan strategies - it's kill or be killed.

Couple these old-school graphics with the sound and Mutant Storm really shines. It's almost as though you've stepped into a time machine and wound up in a Space Invaders game. It beeps, it sweeps and it creeps to provide a glorious mid-Eighties style sound that brings a tear to the eye of even the most hardened gamer. If memories could be boxed, they would say 'Mutant Storm' on the cover. You can almost hear the coins dropping! That is perhaps why I love Mutant Storm so much. The sheer addictive-retro-awesomeness ensures that you'll keep coming back to better your own scores on an almost daily basis. It's a workout for that small part of your mind that stagnates whilst you play other more modern games. That said, the fact that each level is so bright and colourful also makes the game seem repetitive after a while, though that's only if you find the time to think about it!

Taking control of a tiny spaceship, the entire aim of Mutant Storm is to survive wave after wave of many-hued foes that appear from nowhere in their efforts to thwart your progress. That's it - kill all the enemies and you move onto a new level of increased difficulty. There is no storyline or objective, other than to make it to the high score table (which is in itself reward enough for your efforts). Each of the arenas are fantastically designed to provide a unique challenge. The order in which enemies spawn, for instance, means that you need to position yourself correctly to avoid being overwhelmed, and the speed that you destroy all the enemies is vital - somewhat annoyingly, each level is timed and you lose a life should the timer reach zero - so knowing the best way to get around each level takes a little trial and error, especially on later stages. After a certain number of levels the environment changes, as do the challenges. Different enemy types are found in each environment, including beetles and worms, massive metal tanks and more, all of which must be destroyed to progress. There are also boss levels that need a small bit of prior planning to find out the areas that are weak to attack.

It's a massive challenge and even on the easiest difficulty setting it should last a fair few hours, but put it on the hardest setting and you get only three lives and no continues - a true challenge! Add to this the multiplayer modes, including Co-Op through all 89 stages, and high score battles quickly result in a few lost nights and a few lost friends. There's even a level editor to add your own twist to the action, adding even greater appeal.

What at first glance appears frenetic and unplanned slowly begins to show its strategic element. Your ship's weapons can be powered up by collecting tokens that drop from enemies, but they are few and far between and disappear if you take too long to collect them, meaning you could soon end up with a severely underpowered weapon later on. You also get three smart bombs that can wipe out every enemy on the screen. There's a multiplier system whereby the more enemies you kill without dying, the higher your score rises, so the longer you can keep yourself alive, the more chance you have of getting into the high score table. My only gripe is the control system; despite spending hours playing with numerous keyboard set ups, I still couldn't find a comfortable set of key-bindings - because of this, Mutant Storm is definitely better played with a controller.

If you're looking to recapture some of the glory days of old with a new game, or simply looking for an insanely difficult game to while away the hours, then you'll be hard pressed to find a better purchase than Mutant Storm Reloaded. It's fast, it's furious, it will absorb you utterly and it costs a mere 800 gamer points, so you're onto a real winner with this one!

Reviewed by John Barnes for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).