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Elvin Atombender, the infamous mad professor was vanquished by the fearless Agent 4125 in the original Impossible Mission. Two years on the evil egghead has returned, and plans to destroy the world with a missile. Elvin's headquarters are an eight-tower complex somewhere within the country.

Play begins in a randomly selected tower, each of which has up to five rooms accessed by using the elevators. The rooms contain platforms and lifts, guarded by six different types of robot. Furniture, plants and other objects found in each room and can be searched for digits and other useful items.

Digits form the numeric codes needed to gain access to the next tower. These are stored in a pocket computer which can only be used in the corridors. Some of the digits collected are useless and the code is only completed when all three correct digits have been found and arranged in the right order.

Some items conceal a variety of different commands which are carried out using a menu called up from the computer terminals scattered about the rooms. Utilising these you can disable patrolling robots for a few seconds, reset the lifts to their initial positions, move certain floors horizontally, gain extra time and set bombs. Time bombs explode a few seconds after they have been placed; normal bombs are only detonated when a robot moves over them.

Agent 4125 is extremely agile and can somersault from platform to platform. Collision with certain droids or their plasma fire removes one of ten lives. Other robots lay mines which must not be stepped on. If you fall through the bottom of the screen, the mission is over.

In each tower there is a safe which must be blown open by using a time bomb. Inside is a musical sequence which is stored on 4125's miniature cassette deck. This has standard controls to allow the editing of the various sequences. Some of the sequences are duplicated and must be eliminated.

Agent 4125 has only three hours to assemble the correct sequences to allow access to Elvin's control room via the express elevator. This room contains three terminals but only one halts the missile countdown - the others mean instant death.

Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: detailed, bright and colourful
Sound: tune on loading, minimal spot effects

'Impossible Mission II picks up where the prequel finished - on a VERY high note. I played Impossible Mission over and over for many months and it seems as if I'm going to be just as busy with the follow-up. Elvin may still be up to his old tricks, but that doesn't mean the game content is archaic. Impossible Mission II has all the good points of the first plus many extra tweaks and improvements making it a game of today, rather than a new angle on an old concept. The gameplay may be the same, but with improved graphics, extra robots, more rooms and tougher puzzles Impossible Mission II is one of the best summer arcade strategy games you could wish for.'

'Impossible Mission II has all the improvements you'd expect from a game that's being released nearly three years after its predecessor. Agent 4125 leaps and bounds gracefully through an incredibly complex environment of treacherous platforms and ledges which boasts some very tricky screens. Certain rooms makes pretty stiff demands on the powers of lateral thinking, especially as the array of collectable bonuses means that you can negotiate practically every problem in several different ways. You need every single one of your ten lives: any second you can hurtle through perilous gaps in the floor, tumble off an inopportune lift or cross the path of a wild, warmongering patrol droid. It's just a pity that the sound doesn't match up to the high standards of the gameplay. Even without it, you have an action-packed platform challenge which should keep you on the edge of your seat for hours at a time.'

'Impossible Mission II has done nothing to tarnish my liking for the series. Graphically, the game is impressive, with a very athletic Agent 4125 leaping and bounding around the screen, vainly attempting to keep out of the reach of the robots' steely grip. The old grey cells are also ably exercised by the fiendishly difficult, but entirely logical, puzzles. As with the original game, the player is only given a set time limit to defeat the mad professor: this adds a definite urgency to the proceedings. Stop Atombender or it's goodbye cruel world! More fun for fans of the original.'