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Mr. Foxx is really in the doghouse. His family has run out of food and his wife has told him it's up to him to restock the larder. Being a lazy so-and-so, Foxx isn't terribly keen on the idea, but a few taps from Mrs. Foxx's rolling pin hav managed to convince him.

So, after picking up his trusty, er, well, *rusty* pistol off its shelf, Foxx heads off along the scrolling landscape towards Farmer Killimanjaro's place, fingering the bumps on his head and wondering why he married that old battleaxe in the first place.

Foxx has to take back as many comestibles as he can carry, starting with apples, then moving on to pies and sausages. The apples, naturally enough, have to be collected from the orchard inhabited by ferocious squirrels which endanger his pelt by pelting him with nut grenades. Luckily, one thing Foxx is good at is leaping, ducking and running away, and this stands him in pretty good stead with the other perils which come his way. These include gangs of shotgun-toting beagles which ride bicycles (Uh?) and chickens which bomb him with deadly cholesterol-packed eggs.

The pistol Foxx starts the game with can only fire slowly and isn't very accurate, so it's a good idea to keep an eye out for something more useful - an M16 machine gun, for example. When Foxx gets hit, he loses energy, indicated by a lengthening tongue on the Pantometer at the bottom of the screen.

Luckily for him, Foxx can replenish his energy by entering rabbit warrens or chicken coops and scoffing the sleeping inhabitants. This also clocks up points and can open up short cuts which allow him to get from the farm to his home to next to no time at all and in complete safety.

I can't say I had high hopes for a game with features egg-firing chickens, biking dogs, and a gunshot firing fox, but this is one of those incredibly rare occasions on which I have been forced to admit myself completely and utterly wrong.

First off, if you're one of those dead serious 'couldn't understand a joke if you stood in one' sort of people, start reading another review: chasing poultry, belting hares and hitting Hell's beagles right between the eyes won't be your idea of fun.

It is mine though - especially when you're got really brilliantly animated graphics and mindlessly silly music to back it up. OK, so this might not last as long as some of the games in your collection but you've got to admit: every fox has his day!

I haven't had so much fun on a C64 game since Star Paws! Anyone who can watch the Hell's beagles cycling after our hero with their ears flapping wildly in the wind and not laugh must have no sense of humour at all.

The graphics aren't incredible, but they're very cartoony and convey just the right atmosphere as you exact your revenge on dogs and chickens. The fox himself is neatly animated as he switches from a normal, everyday running animal to a gun-toting, bloodthirsty monster.

There's the usual arcade adventure stuff - jumping wide gaps, collecting things, avoiding enemies - but the way it's presented (packed with neat touches like the pantometer) make this one stand out from the crowd.

Within two minutes of Foxx Fights Back's arrival in the office people were coming down from the Art department just to get a look at the graphics. Even if you went down your local joke shop with the express purpose of buying a gorilla suit, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything sillier than bike-riding beagles and chickens flying around doing... well, what chickens do.

The sound perfectly complements the arcade action and the collect-'em-up gameplay with all its short-cuts and burrows to explore, is just good old-fashioned fun. If you buy it tomorrow, you probably won't be playing it next year, but who cares about lastability when you've got a whole farmyard of animals to beat up now? Grrr!

Presentation 79%
Clever pantometer energy gauge is typical of the humorous touches throughout.

Graphics 82%
Jolly, cartoony sprites and nicely scrolling rural backdrops.

Sound 74%
Mindless medley of perfectly frantic tunes.

Hookability 81%
Humorous gameplay and a cracking pace make the game fun from the outset.

Lastability 71%
Not much variation, but bound to remain enjoyable for many plays.

Overall 79%
An unusual, but entertaining, variation on the arcade adventure theme.