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This sequel has been a long time in the making. At last you've got the chance to get to grips with the dictator who apparently escaped at the end of the original game. He's now constructed himself an island fortress which the allied forces are trying to capture, while the dictator tries to inflict revenge for his earlier defeat.

You can play either the dictator or the allied commander, or go head-to-head with another player, in the four-stage battle for supremacy. In the first stage the allied paratroopers parachute in and attack a machine-gun nest, next they use the gun to help hostages trying to escape the dictator. Any rescued hostages are put in helicopters and flown through heavy defences. The final confrontation is between the dictator and allied leader throwing 'poonta' sticks at each other across a river.

In one-player mode you can play either the allied commander or the dictator against the computer. In the first scene the allied player controls a chopper at the top of the screen that drops parachutists behind four walls running horizontally across the screen. The dictator controls a machine-gun with which he tries to pick off the soldiers. Once all the soldiers have landed they can advance to a wall nearer the gun and then over or around it to the bottom of the screen and past the gun. All the time they'll be under heavy fire, but can reply by throwing grenades at the gun for bonus points.

Having overrun the gun, the allies can turn it on the dictator and try to help some hostages escape. They appear in the top left of the screen and walk automatically across to a doorway. The dictator tries to stop them by using several means which the allies try to counter with the gun. One soldier ties to drop rocks on the escaper, another lays mines for him to run into, while a tank trundles towards him trying to crush him. If at least one hostage gets through, it's on to the next stage.

This is a helicopter flight over a downward-scrolling landscape which the allies have to complete with the hostages as passengers. The dictator controls tanks along the route that can bring the chopper down, while other defences work automatically. The chopper can shoot many of the defences and fly under and over obstacles.

The final stage has two figures standing on opposite sides of an underground river where they throw sacks to try to hit each other. Four hits wins a round, causing the man to fall in the water. There are nine rounds to complete, a bonus being awarded for scoring 4-0 victories.

The stages all sound fine in concept but they are actually very boring to play. For one, three and four there are simple methods for completing them without any difficulty whatsoever, while number two is a lot tougher. The computer puts up rather pitiful opposition; even a two-player game is limited by the game's shortcomings, particularly on stage two where the dictator can win every time without fail. This is a bad conversion made up of simple graphics, horrible sound and boring gameplay.

What a lot of rubbish! How can US Gold dare to put out such muck on the market? The program is riddled with bugs. You fall asleep flying your chopper. Hold down the spacebar (or fire button) at certain points of the game and amass a great score. Best thing is to stickytape it and watch. In fact, this is probably the most exciting feature of the game: seeing your score reach undreamed-of heights.

Unfortunately, too much is visible.

P. Two-player option may produce some fun.
P. There's some variety in what you have to do in each stage.

N. Unimpressive graphics.
N. Very nasty sound.
N. Boring, simple gameplay on all stages.
N. Stages two and three are very slow.