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If a two bit actor can become president in the good old US of A then there is no doubt that a man mountain that looks like the result of genetic splicing between Hulk Hogan and an African elephant can become mayor of a city.

Said Mayor Haggar, who squeezes into a shirt and tie for whatever duties his vast intellect can muster at the office, gets a phone call from the terrorists who have kidnapped his daughter. Rather than let his personal army of security men handle the problem he decides to don his wrestling trousers and scour the streets for himself.

Enlisting the help of Cody and Guy, his street wise side kick, the game begins and this is where it shakes off the yawns. The size of the sprites are awesome, the backdrops fabulously detailed and scrolling is mostly smooth.

Haggar and chums have a variety of moves in the six levels of beat 'em up action with as many backdrops. Bash, thump and kick your way through the subway, restaurant, factory, bay and hotel. Various knives and pipes can be used against the thugs, but don't last forever.

All the way through the game, due to memory restrictions, the baddies are more or less the same with only about five different opponents. It's for this same reason that control is severely restricted when fighting as things can get very complicated. A sudden move of your controls and the two opponents disappear in a ball of arms and legs, and later separate with one sprite remaining as victor. However your attention is maintained by the sheer attractiveness of the sprites.

Some backdrops mask your characters detail, but you suddenly step out to a whiter back ground and are stunned by their detail.

Not the most playable beat 'em up in the world, but definitely the best looking. The variety of moves for the different players go a long way to making this a good lasting buy.

Label: US Gold Memory: 48K/128K Price: £11.99 Tape, £16.99 Disk Reviewer: Steve Keen

Big slaps on the back all round for this arcade conversion. You'll be plugging this in when your smug friends come round. A good game let down slightly by playability and lack of animation frames due to Spectrum memory limitations.