Startopia puts you in the hot seat of running a space station. Sounds easy? No it ain't. Building, buying and selling goods, hiring staff and trying to keep the many races of beings happy gives you but a small view of your tasks ahead.

The game cracks off with a fantastic parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey, after which you select your mode of gameplay; mission, sandbox or multiplayer.

In mission mode, you start with five specific tutorials which get you into the swing of things, how to move around the space station, building power generators and other basics. Five more general missions prepare you for the sandbox mode where anything is possible.

A minimalistic menu system located in one corner of your screen takes up very little space but gives you all the information you could request and is easy to navigate and very intuitive.

Graphics in the game are outstanding, with an amazing level of detail. They have cut a very fine line between a cartoon style and the futuristic, with entertaining aliens and technological devices.

Sound features strongly, with each alien race having a distinctive voice, and general effects are amazing. Overall, this game has everything wrapped up in a very nice package with wonderfully interactive characters and a great storyline the only drawback being time. You will lose all track of it as you plunge deeper and deeper into the game. Superb!

Graphics 4/5

Sound 4/5

Gameplay 4/5

Gamespan 4/5

Overall 4/5

Specs: Pentium 350, 64MB RAM, 30 MB hard drive space, 8MB 3D Accelerator, 8xCD-ROM