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If I wasn't holding it in my hands right now, I wouldn't have believed it. Ikari Warriors on the Commodore 64... Ooooh, I can hear you all gasping.

Believe it or not, it was way back in the January 1987 C&VG that we first reviewed this on the Amstrad. Eagerly we awaited further conversions of this ace coin-op. And then... nothing. Absolute silence.

Well, more than a year has passed, and now the conversions are beginning to arrive. I must admit I have very fond memories of Ikari Warriors on the Amstrad. It was brilliant, graphically very near the coin-op with addictive playability. I still rate as one of the best Amstrad games.

Sadly, the Commodore version won't make the top ten of C64 games. It lacks that touch of class, that spark of quality to lift it out of the run-of-the-mill. Having said that, if you haven't clapped eyes on the Amstrad version or coin-op, you'll still find yourself with a fun game. Ikari Warriors is a horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up in the style of Commando/Rambo mould - only better.

This is your mission, men. General Alexander Bonn, top dog of US Forces in Central America, has been kidnapped by a bank of revolutionaries. He is being held captive in his own headquarters to add insult to injury.

You and your buddy - this can be a two player game - pick up a May Day message and rush to the rescue. But your plane crashlands in dense jungle some distance away from the general. Alone or with a pal, you face the enemy. There seems to be a million soldiers rushing you all at once - and you've only got limited supplies of bullets and grenades. However, there's tanks to capture, pill boxes to blow up, bridges to cross, rivers to wade through and enemy encampments to destroy. Along the way there's extra ammo, grenades and tank fuel to collect. For an idea of the scale of the game, check out the map we printed back in January 1987. This could be mission impossible. Playing this game made me keen to play the Amstrad version again. The trouble is, I can't find it any more...