Once in a while a game comes along that, while being quite obscure, is also quite good. So what is good about Cyborg Justice? And what is obscure about it?

The plot of the main game goes something like this: while flying by a planet, your spacecraft loses control and crash-lands on the surface. While your body lies shattered, an alien implants your consciousness into a cyborg frame and erases your memory. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for the alien, the mind wipe wasn’t totally successful, so you decide to track down this alien for a bit of retribution.

This author still remembers how he came about acquiring Laser Squad, by joining one of those software companies with a special introduction. You know the one: join now for only £10 and receive five free games, or something. Anyway the condition was that you had to buy at least one game per month for the year. Having not bothered to order any game one month, a package came from them that included an odd looking game called Laser Squad. It became apparent, on discovering the accompanying newsletter, that this was the editor’s choice for that month and that it was sent out in place of any order. Of course, the glowing Amstrad Action review, as well as others, hadn't gone by unnoticed, but I figured that a strategy turn based game wasn't my bag. However, for some reason, the game was given a shot and this author has never looked back since.

If the past has taught us anything it's not to trust hyped up computer games, especially film licences. Virtually every big hit film has been given the home computer treatment. With a hit film behind the licence, games publishers thought that the free movie publicity would guarantee a good return for their games - and they did for a while. One of the major turning points in film licences was the E.T. debacle; the game was rushed and played so badly that it was reported that the majority of the cartridges were returned. The E.T. incident has also been credited as one of the main factors for the video game crash of. The industry quickly learnt that a rushed and decidedly dodgy game did not guarantee a good sale, no matter what amount of hype and advertisement it gets. In some ways film licences have improved, but there are always some dreadful ones, either by poor design or something that just didn't work out the way it was intended.

For those that are unfamiliar with the successful film franchise (yeah, you, the one who’s been cowering under a rock for the past 15 years), The Terminator is a science fiction action film, which was directed by James Cameron back in 1984; and pretty darn good it is too. The film features the concept of a “terminator”, a virtually unstoppable cyborg assassin sent back from the year 2029 by an artificially intelligent computer hell-bent on the extermination of mankind. The Terminator’s mission was to travel back in time to kill Sarah Connor, thus preventing her son, John Connor, from forming a resistance against the machines in the future. The film became a popular phenomenon leading to two sequels and various spin-offs and merchandise, including many computer and video games. The games are either based directly on the movies or are heavily involved within the film’s expanded universe.