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The title of the game gives away what it's all about - really funky music in a streetwise, hip-hop town.

Funky Town is where it all happens, and this is represented on screen as 3D streets with buildings in the background, a pavement and roadway. On these swinging sidewalks appears Rockin' Rodney and his ghettoblaster. Rodney has to collect ten demo tapes from the dancing parties in the town and deliver them to the offices of Interdisc so that a record can be made.

Our soul brother first has to go in search of batteries for his blaster from an electrical supply store. Once he's got them, he has to find a tape to play. Tapes are found behind the doors of houses which are visibly pulsating with the beat.

Once you've got a tape in your blaster you can turn it on, and one of ten funky tunes will boogie its way out of the 64. The next part is to blast other people with the music to get them dancing (you just have to fire at them).

When enough people are dancing, you can deliver the tape to Interdisc and set off in search of another one. The ten tapes all have to be collected before your on-screen tape counter reaches 999, otherwise the vinyl won't hit the streets on time.

Rodney can cross the street to get to the houses on both sides of the road, or use junctions to change streets. He can also wander around the two parks full of trees, bushes and magic mushrooms.

The longer he takes to deliver a tape, the more people he has to make dance before he can deliver the next one. This is made even tougher by some of the inhabitants of the town who may damage the blaster or wreck it completely. Damage can be repaired at a repair shop but a total wreck means game over.

A map of Funky Town is included in the instructions and all the streets have song title games like Electric Avenue, Baker Street and Strawberry Fields.

The display is split into your view of the street and a ghettoblaster complete with tape counter, volume and battery strength. A status line between the two (the blaster's handle) gives updates on the game with song titles, cute comments, and the occasional helpful bit of information.

The tunes in the game are excellent and mostly very different. They only play when you have a tape and batteries. Not only that, but there is a completely different title tune as well.

All the characters are done in detail, from groover Rodney to the aging fuzzy breakers who roam the streets. If you hit one of the ordinary people with your music, they start boogieing around the street in sheer delight.

There are some superb, original touches to this game that give it high immediate appeal. Both sound and graphics are great and enforce this hook, but due to the lack of a true scoring system I can't see myself boppin' back to it that often.

Yeah, man! Rodney returns, but this time he's rockin'. I found collecting the tapes to be great fun, and sending all those crusty men dancing to those brilliant tunes was one big giggle. The only trouble is that it gets rather boring to play after a while.

I found the music great and the whole idea really refreshing; there's even some great playability thrown in. It reminded me of Broadstreet in many respects, but has much more for you to do. It suffers slightly from only having the number of tapes collected as a scoring system, but still provides excellent excitement.

1. Tone Deaf Walkers wear black and white stripes and travel at the same speed as you. If bumped into, they vandalise your blaster.
2. Bandits Of The Beat have spikey hair and big lips and travel as fast as you. They'll steal your tape if they catch you.
3. The Psycho Killer has an enormous spikey hair-do and travels slower than you. If he gets to you, you've had it.
4. Gangsters Of The Groove move much slower than you but blend in with the other inhabitants of the town. They'll also steal your tape if they get close.
5. Jumping Jack Flash wears black and white stripes and flashes. If you collide with him he transports you to a tape or Interdisc, depending on which you need.
6. Busty Blood appears once you've delivered several tapes and also ends your game if bumped into, with the line 'she loved to love you baby' (!)

Presentation 76%
Groovy instructions with a handy little map.

Originality 79%
Great characters with interesting new gameplay touches.

Graphics 73%
Good sprites for all the characters and atmospheric settings.

Hookability 83%
You'll really turn on to the music and streets.

Sound 84%
Twelve excellent tunes with great titles and variation.

Lastability 64%
May become repetitive and lacks a real scoring system.

Value For Money 69%
Tremendous instant appeal but constantly collecting tapes may pall.