Product Reviews

Pocket PC games are getting slicker all the time, and Anthelion 2, the latest space shoot-'em-up, is a perfect case in point. The aim is to destroy incoming enemy ships or asteroids, collecting a variety of floating power-up capsules as you go. It all sounds very simple, but the graphics, animations and sound

ADVERTISEMENT

are all top notch, and the game looks fabulous on hi-res VGA Pocket PC models.

With a heads-up display and multiple weapon types, Anthelion 2 feels as much like a jet fighter simulation as a space battle game, but the action is fast and furious all the way. It provides a good range of mission types to keep things interesting, three different alien races to play, 10 different ships and a range of difficulty levels. It's all polished off with a particularly comprehensive array of online help screens and training missions to get you started without recourse to a printed instruction manual, replay of your last mission and the obligatory 15-mission campaign mode.

Best of all, there's an auto-fire mode that fires the current weapon continuously whenever there's a valid target in your sights, which lets you concentrate on steering rather than tapping the fire button endlessly.