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Fernandez has spread his dictatorship over a once peaceful land, and eight bases have been built to secure his hold on the area. Your mission is to free the country, once your homeland, by discovering and destroying all of these bases, and any enemy soldiers or vehicles which cross your path. There are prisoners-of-war to set free and hoards of stolen gold to recover, both of which will help you gain medals.

You are dropped from a truck at the beginning of the vertically scrolling combat area, and then battle your way forward using a combination of machine gun bullets and hand grenades, avoiding enemies and mines. Jeeps lie abandoned about the playing area, and can be boarded to create mayhem - they're each armed with a machine gun and (initially) sixteen bazooka shells.

The damage incurred to both jeep and soldier and shown as bars at the top of a screen, next to displays showing lives and grenades/shells remaining. If the jeep is damaged beyond repair, you are ejected, to continue to foot - but catching a stray bullet while in soldier mode reduces the lives counter by one.

Doors and walls are broken through to reach bases and rooms, which can be found with the aid of a map, called up by the Run/Stop key. These buildings are a maze of walls containing POWs and gold-filled caskets.

In two-player mode, both players work together to defeat Fernandez' troops. The first player to enter a jeep steers it, whilst the second controls a directional machine gun.

Planes drop parachutes as they fly overhead, carrying enemy troops, medical supplies to restore energy, and wall-destroying bombs. Cases of ammunition and gold pieces can also be found. A status screen displays medals awarded and the number of prisoners and gold chests to find.

A total of seven medals are yours for the earning: collecting gold, destroying bases and freeing prisoners all have their reward.

Tony Crowther's latest game appears a little late for the Commando-style vertical scroller boom of around two years ago, for this seems to be all it is. So what if the game scrolls down as well as up?

It doesn't really make it a classic. The graphics are passable, with smart definition, but the usual gaudy Crowther colouring puts a bit of a damper on the whole affair.

In the gameplay stakes, Fernandez has little to offer over other 'run around marmalising everything that moves' games. What it does have is a lot of infuriating delays and hold-ups, something I don't expect to see in games of this type. What we *are* given is just a fairly well programmed basic shoot-'em-up, but there is not a lot contained within it to excite or stimulate the computer gamer.

Imageworks' first game marks the return of the auspicious Tony Crowther; unfortunately, Fernandez Must Die, as well as having a tacky title, suffers from being a rather unplayable Commando variant.

Though well defined in parts, the graphics are badly coloured to the point that they distract your attention from the game format. Grenades aren't easily launched, and as breaking through various barriers depends on the aforementioned firepower, a lot of time is spent hanging around waiting for a plane to blow a gap - very annoying.

The outdated gameplay is only of great interest in the two-player mode, and then only when aboard a jeep. It's a pity that Tony Crowther's follow-up to his brilliant Zig Zag should be so ordinary.

One thing I have noticed about Tony Crowther games is that the colour schemes are always hard on the eyes, and make any perception of depth or position extremely difficult.

This is quite a shame since the definition of sprites and backgrounds alike are usually very good, as in Fernandez Must Die. The blue and green shading on the first level looks horrendous, but on further screens the combinations do improve slightly.

The gameplay behind the psychedelic graphics is very difficult, often to the point of frustration, requiring a good deal of hanging around waiting for gaps in the landscape or extra grenades to appear before any progres can be made.

Hence, all but the most tolerant of gamers may soon find themselves saying, "Forget it" and leaving the game to muddle along in its own garish way.

Presentation 63%
Helpful in-game map and status screens, but awkward grenade control.

Graphics 47%
Well defined but gaudily coloured.

Sound 63%
Old Compunet tune (which is decent) and simple effects.

Hookability 53%
The offensive colours, intermittent grenade response and stilted pace don't encourage further plays.

Lastability 42%
Lack of variety will prove difficult to tolerate for all but the most dedicated Crowther fans.

Overall 51%
An old-fashioned game from a new-style software label.