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She's done it again! Not content with a peaceful home life, Marion, girlfriend of Billy Lee, has let herself be kidnapped once more. Don't the Brothers Lee have jobs to do? They seem to be making a full-time career out of rescuing this girl! In my opinion, if Marion keeps getting kidnapped, it spells trouble - give her the 'Big E', Bill!

This time their task is to search for the Rosetta Stones and hand them over to the kidnappers. Luckily, a soothsayer chum promises to lead them to the stones so things should be a doddle. Ha, you must be poking!

This dangerous mission takes the brothers through America, China, Japan, Italy and Egypt levels, then for a short holiday in Wales [Well, they've got to have a 'leak' somewhere, haven't they? - Ed]. Having emptied their bladders and smashed hell out of loadsa unpleasant personages, they might rescue Marion and find the truth behind the strange stones.

Each level has various street-lighting stages featuring wave after wave of scum to beat up. To add a little variety, a weapons shop has been added where Billy and Jimmy can equip themselves with such items as nunchukas, grenades, missiles, knuckle-dusters and swords, plus extra energy and lives.

Money collected in the streets can be invested in new moves. The Locking Head Squeeze, Handstand Ankleflip and One-Armed Headbutt should all come in handy. The great thing about beating up blokes using these skills is the player gains the expertise of any chap they defeat, as a sign of respect for their superior mastery of the fighting arts (bootlick, creep, smarm, etc).

Double Dragon III brings you detailed background scenery from exotic places all over the world. But, apart from looking good, you can use objects lying around or use the backdrop to catapult yourself onto an oncoming tough guy. Crates can be picked up and slung at whoever you fancy [but if you fancy 'em it would be a bit silly to chuck a crate at 'em - Ed].

As beat-'em-ups go, Double Dragon III isn't bad. It's just we've seen it all before, time and time again. All the background graphics are excellent, but the sprites are a bit dodgy - if you knock a baddy flying you don't expect him to grow a few inches when he hits the floor!

But if you fancy a bit of a bash, Double Dragon III could be for you. Don't forget your knuckledusters!

Oh lordy, when will software companies stop producing boring sequels to yawny games. Beat-'em-ups have been around since the dawn of the Speccy and these days a 'bash the crap out of the baddies' games has to be something really special to impress.

To be fair, Double Dragon III is pretty good, graphically. Though monochrome, the backgrounds are fairly detailed, which is more than can be said for the character sprites. Some of the baddies look barely sentient [Que? - Ed], let alone human. Double Dragon III may appeal to fans of the trilogy, but personally I'd rather watch Warren picking his nose (and judging by the size of it, that could take years).

Overall 70%
Lots more of the same with some snazzy graphics thrown in.