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This is what we want! Enough of Bub and Bob and all those sissy game scenarios where you can only 'stun' the bad guys for fear of parental outrage and the consequent removal of the product from the shelves. What we want is a game with some real stones, where players can get tooled up with some seriously hard real-life weaponry, tie a blood-soaked bandana round our heads and blow holes in a bunch of terrorists and jackbooted scumbags in as gory a manner as possible.

And that, as luck would have it, is exactly what you get with Fire Force, a "Green Beret-style" military shoot-'em-up that, due to the demise of former publisher Electronic Zoo earlier in the year, has only now made it onto the software shelves.

In Fire Force, you kit yourself out with a military alter-ego, beginning with the rank of Ensign, and progressing through twelve increasingly difficult (and violent) missions, earning medals, commendations and promotions for each one successfully completed. And... well, that's about your lot. Despite the military scenario, Fire Force doesn't have any simulation or RPG pretensions like, say Airborne Ranger or Special Forces. On the missions here, you get some nice shiny guns, a bucketload of high explosive ammunition and one simple instruction - Kill absolutely everything!

At the outset of Fire Force, only the first four of the game's twelve missions are selectable. The objective, terrain and enemies change depending on the mission, with a full intelligence briefing for each available at the touch of a button.

The idea of the missions doesn't change much - you've basically got to kill everything or destroy a specific target - but the actual objectives do. One minute you'll be taking out an enemy bridge, the next seeking and destroying a cache of SAM missiles or assassinating an enemy dictator.

Having chosen a mission, it's off to the armoury to get kitted out for the job in hand. There's a tremendous amount of equipment on offer, including five machine guns with special ammunition for each, grenades, a rocket launcher, plastic explosives and health-restoring medi-kits. Basically, you can take whatever combination of stuff that you like, but there's a weight limit to how much you can carry.

The dead bodies of the enemy can be searched for ammunition and equipment - but remember that you can only use ammo that's compatible with your current weapon.

If your gun is empty, swap it for his - using an enemy weapon is especially advisable, because the ammo picked up from further corpses will invariably fit.

No matter what you do on the mission, there's one fact you must never let stray from your memory - the helicopter that drops you off at the start returns at a fixed location and time to pick you up.

If you're not in the right place (usually at the right of the play area) at the right time, the chopper leaves without and your career is over. Status: Missing in Action.

Entering tents, huts and buildings is a necessary and useful exercise - the mission targets are often to be found hiding out in places like these and there's often useful equipment to be found lying around. But watch out for traps...

The player's default weapon is a knife which, though only of any use at point-blank range, produces a nifty-throat slitting effect. Weapons are swapped around by use of the function keys - your best bet is the machine gun, which dispatches the enemy with a single burst from any range.

Ammunition is, of course, limited, so don't go blazing away like Arnie. A nice touch is that the player can aim the weapon to point up or down, allowing you to shoot at enemies above and below.

Beware of landmines - they sap more of your health than bullets, and can be difficult to spot. Medi-kits will restore energy, but they're few and far between. You can get your own back by blowing up property with C4 explosive - any damage you do counts towards your final score.

At first, Fire Force really doesn't look like much at all. The graphics are basic and look more suited to an ST than the Amiga, and initially gameplay seems slow and limited. But give it a chance and you'll soon be surprised to discover that the game is actually tremendous fun.

It's not just the fact that it's violently realistic that makes it compulsive entertainment - there really is a decent game hiding under these cardboardy visuals. Like the strangely similar Green Beret, Fire Force is just an arcade blaster at heart - but there's a bit more to it than your everyday left-to-right scroller.

The ability to choose and use a whole arsenal of varied weaponry, the searching of bodies and buildings for useful items, the medals and promotions... all are elements that help to lift Fire Force above the norm.

With the enemies as intelligent as they are (they actually will follow and aim their weapons at you, no matter where you are), Fire Force is a tough game, becoming almost nightmarish on the later missions - but experience teaches you how to survive against such impossible odds, and there's a great Rambo-esque feeling to be had when your tactics work.

The whole thing is given an extra edge of tension by each mission's strict time limit - you simply have to get to the extraction point, no matter what happens. Oh, and did I mention the soundtrack? Apart from the fine spot effects during play (a variety of gunshots, explosions and bloodcurdling screams), there's a rousing military drum anthem on the title screen that gets the adrenalin flowing nicely.

Don't let the graphics put you off - Fire Force is one of the most enjoyable and sophisticated shoot-'em-ups I've played and full marks to I.C.E. for having the bottle to try something with a bit of an edge to it for a change.

Graphics 74%
Sound 80%
Playability 90%
Lastability 88%
Overall 90%