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Superior seems to have perfected the art of producing good Arcade Adventure games. I'm struggling to discover the secrets of its Citadel and I'm no nearer getting to the second level of Ravenskull.

When I was told that Superior had released the sequel to Stryker's Run called Codename Droid - Stryker's Run 2, I just had to try it.

The idea of the game is simple: As Commander Stryker you have to invade the stronghold of the Volgans, negotiate the obstacles, leap off walls and climb ropes, kill the nasties in your way and pick up any useful bits and pieces.

The graphics are completely different and vastly superior (no pun intended) to Stryker's Run 1. Commander Stryker is now Repton-sized and the screen scrolling does not judder at all. Sound is limited to a tune at the start, then gunfire and explosions.

There are some nice touches, travelling upordown inlifts requires special passes which you find along the way. No pass means no further progress.

Other useful items are the power cells which can be used to recharge Stryker's suit or blaster. I also liked the fact that you can kneel and crawl into those cramped little places the bad guys cannot reach.

Apart from your gun, you have five mines per level (renewed whenever you use a lift) which you can drop for the Volgan guards totread on. Every now and again you'll find a jet pack (more of a jet seat) which has its own blasters to fly you into places Stryker could not possibly reach on his own.

Be warned - although it's more fun just to play, reading the instructions is a good idea. I found out after a couple of weeks of play that a particular item I'd been picking up without a thought could be very useful.

All in all, Codename Droid seems to be just another Arcade/Adventure and despite its superb programming and obvious high quality it just doesn't seem to have that certain something to make it stand out from the crowd.

Desmond