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Ben and Andy are as hard as rocks - they have to be in their line of work. Not everybody can become a Crackdown agent: how many of you lot could stand a training schedule that involves having a heavy metal object dropped on your parts from ten feet in the air?

Anyway, the object of this rigorous training is to get the lads prepared for battle with the Replicants - a race of cyborgs which have found their way into this game from the movie Blade Runner. They've taken over a large block of buildings and, under the instructions of their leader, the infamous Doctor K, are prepared to fight to the death to to hold on to their lovely new abode. What they want with an old block of flats is anyone's guess, mind you, but that's life.

Somehow, a load of un-primed explosives have also found their way into these buildings and Ben and Andy's mission is to infiltrate the Replicants hideout, set the timers on all the bombs and get out before the place goes up.

Sounds easy? It would be, were it not for the fact that the Replicants are heavily armed and rather dangerous. The boys start their mission with a machine gun and a cannon which has a limited supply of ammo, more of which can be found by opening handily-positioned weapons caches around the high rise. The Crackdown duo only have a couple of minutes to set the bombs, before moving to the next building. Take too long and you're dead.

Crackdown comes as something of a disappointment. The characters tend to merge into the backdrops, making for annoyance and frustration when you walk right into a baddy who promptly blows a large hole through you. The levels start off simple and don't ever really get challenging enough, The three-year old coin-op upon which this title is based didn't do great things - except the same from the computer version.

Label: Kixx Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Paul Rand

There's nothing like a good, enjoyable coin-op conversion, unfortunately Crackdown isn't really one. A good enough formula game, small sprites and dodgy clash and detection ruin lastability.