CADETS for the armed services' Special Forces are hand picked from regular units. They undergo rigorous and extensive testing and training before they are given a permanent position. Only the very select go on to command such a cadre.

Until now that is, because for a modest fee Laser Squad will put you in such a position. Just think, you're missing out on all that yomping through minefields armed with a forked stick, spending winter nights in the Cairngorms with only a Tesco carrier bag for shelter, climbing the Himalayas in your underclothes at night with a knapsack full of bricks, and so forth.

Even better, this is the elite service of the future, armed with all sorts of death-dealing weaponry from light sabres to heavy duty laser gear. Unfortunately, this of course means that the other guys have it too. Nobody said it was going to be lemon-squeezy.

There are five scenarios: An assassination attempt, an assault, a prison breakout, a defending action and a sort of forced march thing. This gives a fairly rounded sample of the sort of stuff these blackened-face and balaclava johnnies get up to.

The first thing to do before going on a very dangerous mission from which nobody is likely to return is to phone HQ and see if they haven't made some sort of administrative error. The second thing to do is to equip your men.
Since you are working for a band of rebels - born to be free, just like the fish in the sea - you are a bit short on the necessaries. Typical, isn't it? I mean, just because making money out of the honest sweat of peasants is against their ideals doesn't mean that Rebel High Command can't bung something away in the Nationwide Anglia against a bit of serious weaponry.

Your team will consists of five or more members, some of whom are better than others at specific tasks. Unfortunately, you won't be able to find out what they are good at before the action starts, so you'll have to guess when you are equipping them.
Generally the corporals are better shots - except for Corporal Clegg, who has been excused from duty on account of his wooden leg - so give him the best weapons.

Another quibble is the deployment phase. Before the action starts you are allowed to choose where to deploy your men, but you aren't allowed to see the overhead map, so there is no way to plan your strategy. This might be all right if you are penetrating an enemy installation, but surely you would know your way around your own base?

There is an option to play against a friend r the computer. The computer can be programmed for varying degrees of skill depending on which scenario you have chosen. It gets tough at the top.

In terms of tactics, realism and the way your troops interact with each other and their equipment, Laser Squad is very true to life, although enjoyment is slightly limited by the small number of scenarios.

A good attempt to produce a role-playing game, combing graphics, gameplay and realism.

When the original 64 version of Laser Squad was released in March this year, it received a more-than-healthy 92% and entered the CU hall of fame. The April deadline for the Amiga version came and passed and little has been heard since then. Until a new software outfit by the name of Blade announced their forthcoming Amiga release - Laser Squad.

It was simplicity which made Laser Squad such a successful game. The graphics are workmanlike, as is the sound, but the concept and the execution are exceptional. You are in charge of the crack Laser Squad and you have a number of missions to complete, whether they involve assassinating a drugs baron, laying siege to a major office block or rescuing buddies held prisoner in a mining complex.

At the start of each mission it is your responsibility to equip your team. There are various types of armour to choose from and a large selection of weapons and ammunition. At one end of the scale is the Marsec Auto Pistol, which is very low powered and cannot penetrate tough armour whilst on the other is the rocket launcher which can take out just anything.

The deployment phase is next. Your troops need to be placed in set locations by the entrances to the map.

Each troops has a set number of Action Points which diminish with every action, even if you drop an object. If a player ends a turn with more than half of his total Action Points he automatically goes into opportunity mode (that is to say if the enemy passes his field vision he gets what is effectively a free strike, so long as he is quick).

Essentially, Amiga Laser Squad bar from some improved graphics and its extremely atmospheric sound effects is identical to the 8-bit game. One final improvement has been to include the two original 8-bit expansion packs in the 16-bit version. No actual expansion packs are planned for this version.

Laser Squad is excellent. Although I cannot help but feel slightly put out by the lack of improvement to the original. But if you are somebody who likes the idea of plenty over-the-top violence, explosions and some thinking you won't go far wrong with this little baby.

For most people the title "strategy game" conjures up the image of a dull, terrifyingly boring game and middle-aged gents with long, curly moustaches mobilising around a table coated with lots of little hexagons. Well, if you're like most people then be prepared to change your views, because Laser Squad is an example of how strategy games can be fun, fun, fun (even when your father has gone and repossessed the T-bird).

Laser Squad is interesting and different for three reasons:
a) because it has five inricate sci-fi scenarios to choose from;
b) because it actually has a suspense element; and
c) ...er , because I say so.

The first thing to do in this game is delegate weaponry and armour to your squad members. You have a certain amount of 'credits' to do this with. The difficulty level determines the numbers of credits you start with, ranging from fabulously rich to National Health(Oooh! Bit of politics there! Nice one).

Top of the range in the artillery department is the heavy cannon (a huge industrial laser gun) to the Marsec pistol (a weedy domestic handgun). You can also get your fair share of grenades, mines, ammo, machine guns, rocket launchers and light sabres. Once your squad is all 'gunned up' then it's well and truly mission time.

THE MISSIONS
-THE ASSASSINS - Target: mega corporate, high rank, big director type person, Sterner Regnix. This man has embezzlement and espionage for breakfast and then moves on to government manipulation and drug dealing for lunch. Tea-time could spell the end of the galaxy. Laser Squad is deployed to pop Regnix's corporate cork. But he is extremely well protected by his planet fortress and an elite squadron of combat droids.

MOONBASE ASSAULT - Target: the omni-corporation's moonbase on a far away planet, concealed right in the bowels of the galaxy. The moonbase cheekily houses the movements and secrets of rebel groups like Laser Squad. Laser Squad values its privacy (and has some rather unsavoury connections with the planet Soixante Neuf) and so deploys itself to put the nosey corporation's conk out of joint.

RESCUE FROM THE MINES - A jumped-up group of 'amats' (Laser Squad jargon for 'amateurs') have fluffed up an important mine-installation blow-up job. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how annoyed you are at the amats), three members of the squad have been imprisoned. They have vital information about the rest of the mine complex. Laser Squad miss their tea-break to boldly go and free the prisoners.

THE CYBER HORDERS - A rebel planet installation is being attacked by a squad of frumpy combat droids, intent on disrupting the seismic equilibrium (that's volcanic activity to you) of the planet. Laser Squad must 'dig in' and give 'Jerry' a damn good British whipping.

DEPLOYMENT
You get a God's eye view of the level which slices away all the roofs of buildings, detailing all the flora and fauna, tunnels, corridors, objects, toilets, doors and computers. In fact it shows everything except your enemies' positions. Those you never get to see (the screen blanks while the computer moves them) reamain invisible until one of your teams has eye contact.

Laser Squad is quite a civilised game. You and your opponents actually take turns. Each member is allocated a number of movement points - the initial number is governed by how much the character is carrying, how agile he is, and whether he's a pencil-necked shandy man or not.

Rotation on the spot costs one point per direction, moving across normal terrain (corridors, space, etc.) costs even more. If you come across an enemy (or 20) then you have the choice of firing. This changes the on-screen map. Gone are the vegetation and fascinating wall murals, here are the most tangible (i.e. shootable) objects, represented by blobs and bigger blobs (for trees). You have to direct a crosshair over your intended target and then choose a shot type.

AUTO gives you a raking machine gun effect but is very inaccurate while AIM is more precise but costs on the old movement points. SNAP is a sort of compromise between the two. The last option, THROW, is an option to throw your weapon at an aggressor. This, unfortunately, is all very stupid.

And so the game continues... Lots of sneaking around corridors, educated guesses as to the whereabouts of enemy locations, lip-biting during fire-fights in narrow corridors, lots of sweaty trigger fingers and swearing when your men get caught in ambushes. Laser Squad avoids tumbling into the pitfall which 90% of all strategy games have fallen into - that is, having too much "strategy" and not enough "game".

Laser Squad is initially quite hard to get into. There are a few menus to wade through, a few title screens to go "Cor!" at, and a few key decisions to be made before you're "dug in" on the battlefield. Even then the first two or three 'moves' are quite turgid really, with menial tasks like arming to carry out. But as soon as your first enemy pops out of the metal work, your blood boils and your kettle runs cold (if you know what I mean).

The graphics are fairly diagrammatic but detailed - they wouldn't stand on their own but they do look quite good all together. However, Laser Squad's lasting appeal is not in question. With game lengths ranging from half an hour (for a good massacre) to two hours (a good balanced conflict), seven skill levels, five scenarios and the option to plot your strategies against an unwitting chum, Laser Squad should keep you computer-motivated for at least two months.

The soundtrack is excellent - sort of Pet Shop Boys meet some sampled farmyard grunts. Although, it's a jangly jolly sort of tune, things start to become pretty annoying when you miss the music-off option, and you're committed to having it blaring out continuously throughout the game.

My vast (hem!) experience with the 8-bit version of Laser Squad set me in good salivating stead for this review. If the game was brilliant on the Spectrum, the 16-bit incarnation had to be out of this world. And it was... and, er, it wasn't. (Pardon? Ed.). The 16 bitter has everything its predecessor had - the graphics, the gameplay, the suspense, the skill, the challenge, the characters even - but that's the point. I kept getting the impression that I was playing a Spectrum game on an Amiga monitor. Nothing's been changed. Okay, so there's a dab of colour here and there, and the odd sampled clash of thunder in the background but I couldn't help thinking, "Where's the Amiga?".

However, Laser Squad still remains a brilliant game, even though the Amiga could probably sit back, have a cigarette and clean out the fluffy bits between its toes while running the game. I think half the attraction of the game is the suspense element (What's awaiting round the next corner? Will the enemy find me? Where's Keith Chegwin?) and the intellectual ego-massage you can give yourself when you do finally defeat the computer (who plays a mean game).

Laser Squad has that elusive lend of excitement, challenge and addictiveness all mashed into one. Definitely on the short list for all time classics and definitely the best strategy game you'll find in the shops today.