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Balloon Fight owes a debt to possibly the looniest game ever dreamt up - Joust by Williams, which featured lance-carrying knights who floated around screen on ostriches attempting to prick nasties with their poles.

For Balloon Fight, read Joust Mk2. You control a cute little character with two balloons on his back (more than a touch of Pooyan) and have to flap your way around the screen trying to puncture other jolly nasty characters' balloons.

There are platforms placed around the screen which you can use to drop down on the enemy to pop their balloons and then kick them once more to destroy them. If you can do the manoeuvre in a single step there are extra points to be had.

Your character has a strong inertial roll to his movements so timing is all to master the play. Other dangers to watch out for are lightning bolts, a sneaky but very cute fish that leaps up and grabs you if you fly too low over a lake that appears on certain screens.

There are one or two player options (two player can be team or competition play) and an 'I-can-do-it-if-I-keep-cool' bonus round where you have to capture balloons that travel up the screen out of your tubes across the bottom of the screen.

There is a really groovy Balloon Trip option where you float from right to left across scrolling screens trying to prick every balloon in sight while avoiding the lightning bolts.

The graphics are nothing special and the sound is merely adequate. Nevertheless, the game delivers in its feel.

Overall, this is a great game for those of you with that urge to surge and a little bit of finesse on the joystick.