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The caped crusader of the bomb-disposal world is back in another weird and surreal adventure. This time however, it's not bombs that need to be collected but pots of gold, scattered throughout forty different screens. Bomb Jack has changed too - he's abandoned his cape and wears a blue leotard instead of his red one. He can still leap great distances and run around at high speed, but now he has the ability to fight.

Each screen features an arrangement of floating platforms on which ten pots of gold reside. Jack leaps from platform to platform collecting these pots, but he can only move about if the platforms are in line with one another. When the first pot is collected, another flashes, and so on.

If more then six flashing pots are collected, bonus points are awarded up to a maximum of 25,000. An extra life is given for picking up ten flashing pots.

Jack's life is made a little more difficult by the creatures inhabiting the platforms - their number ranges from two to six, varying from screen to screen. Starting off as dinosaurs, they mutate every fifteen seconds or so, and become tougher and more vicious until they eventually gain the ability to jump and chase Jack around the screen. Touching creatures depletes Jack's energy, shown as a diminishing bar. When this reaches zero, one of Jack's three lives is lost.

Fortunately, Jack can be defended by pressing the fire button and moving the joystick towards the creature; pushing it away from him and maybe even off the platform. Fighting expends energy though, so a wise Jack avoids too much conflict.

When a screen is completed, Jack's energy is restored to its maximum, and the monsters return to their primary dinosaur form.

The original Bomb Jack was something of a disaster on the C64 as the conversion never really captured the flavour of the arcade game - mainly due to the fat graphics which restricted the playing area somewhat.

This 'sequel', however, is much more impressive and playable - and it's not based on an arcade game! The music is good and the graphics are adequate - small, colourful and reasonably well drawn. But neither aspect is important because the programmers have designed a very playable game.

Frustrating at times, but highly addictive and compulsive. My only gripe is the price, which does seem a mite excessive for such a simple game. Still, Bomb Jack II is worthy of consideration - especially if you enjoyed its predecessor.

I'm amazed! This is really great - infinitely better than the original! The graphics are very good, a little small really - but very colourful nevertheless.

The sound is fine and the program plays extremely well. It's not really compulsive at first, but when you get into the action it becomes incredibly addictive - I found myself playing for hours on end!

If you're willing to fork out the cash, you'll be buying one of the best collect-'em-up games around. It just shows what can be done when you try something original instead of churning out converted arcade games which were never designed to be squeezed into a Commodore...

I didn't like the first Bomb Jack game and I'm not exactly impressed by this. Rushing around collecting the pots of gold is great fun at first, but I really don't think the action has enough variety to keep you playing for long.

The problem is that the screens look the same and they only change in their layout - there are no new monsters or features to look forward to.

The graphics and sound aren't bad at all, and the game is reasonably challenging, but I can see its novelty wearing off rather quickly. Not bad, but far from exceptional, especially at the price.

Presentation 83%
Pretty attract mode, two player mode and joystick or keyboard option.

Graphics 61%
Small sprites and straightforward backdrops, but very pleasant and effective all round.

Sound 70%
Wallpaper backing track, twee title screen tune, and decent spot effects.

Hookability 85%
Deceptively tricky collect-'em-up action gives instant pleasure.

Lastability 78%
Forty frenetic levels of leaping and collecting.

Value For Money 68%
Overpriced, but great fun.

Overall 80%
A simple but addictive game, which puts its predecessor to shame.