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BINARY'S TERRIBLE TWOSOME

Sosaiken Masters? Never heard of them? Well, all you need to know is; Kung Fu experts, plenty tough. Billy and Jimmy Lee are twin brothers and Sosawhatsit Masters (not to mention relations of Bruce, no doubt). Obviously only a complete and utter nutter would mess with them, and his name's Shadow Boss, the leader of the Black Warriors. He's had Billy's girl Marian kidnapped and hidden in his hide-out...

The brothers' high-kicking quest takes them through city streets, warehouses, forests, mountains and caverns. Ranged against them are six villainous types, including the machine gun-armed Shadow Boss himself. Initially the villains may attack singly, but most often two or three take on our heroes. Unarmed they're easy meat - except the massive Abobo- but pretty soon they've got knives, baseball bats, whips and oil drums. If knocked to the ground, villains drop their weapons, which you should grab swiftly. Knives and oil drums are thrown, while the bats and whips are held to bash enemies. Lives are lost when energy falls to zero, but if there's a credit left, fire brings you back to life. If only one player is taking part the enemies remain the same, but then there's no-one to share credits with and 'accidentally' bash you.

The game is made up of five levels, two which are split into two loads making seven loads in all. Once a level is finished you may choose to replay it, for practice or points, at the cost of a credit per player. There's no advantage for 128 owners and the multiload is both slow and cumbersome.

Gameplay is very much like Target; Renegade, but much easier - Phil's already completed it. Background graphics are both varied and quite good, but character graphics are disappointing. Sound effects are muffled thumps with a noise like a plastic mouse being squeezed for the screams of the whip wielding (these Assistant Eds get up to some strange things when mice are involved - Ed). Entertaining for an hour or so, Double Dragon's appeal soon wears off.

STUART ... 62%

THE ESSENTIALS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: animation is a bit jerky and backgrounds over-colourful Sound: no tunes, only simple biffing, groaning and squeaking effects Options: one or two players

'Yawn, another mediocre beat-'em-up. Once you're in the right position on screen you can kill all your opponents in a few swift strikes. This is a pity as there's an unusually large variety of weapons, including boulders you can drop on your opponents. Backgrounds graphics are good, but there's a lot of colour clash. Must try harder, Binary Design.'

'The best bit about this game is how, in two-player mode, you injure your colleague - in which case he's likely to return the punch (in real life!). The various fighting sprites move fairly jerkily, although enemies such as the Frank Bruno and Mel Croucher lookalikes are well drawn. Sound is also weak no tunes whatsoever. Travelling through the levels is initially fun, especially with a friend to help you, but the real problem with Double Dragon is that it's far too easy. When you've completed it - on about the second attempt - you're unlikely to return to it.'