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Had enough of being kicked in the head, punched in the kidneys and smashed in the stomach?

No? Good. Just get your bruised and battered body over to the computer and get ready for another bout of flesh-flaying body-swaying, cruel-punching, bone-wrenching, fist-flailing, high-kicking karate.

So what's new? Let's face it, they've been some pretty excellent martial arts games over the past year or so - who needs another one? There's nothing new to be done, is there? Wrong!

Sound the fanfares and get the flags out for System 3's International Karate 2, the sequel that's more than equal to the original.

The man given the job of creating this masterpiece of macho mayhem is Archer Maclean, creator of the classic Drop Zone.

C&VG has seen a very early copy of the game and there may be a number of changes added to the finished copy but, without any fear, we say this game is "the business".

The obvious innovation is that Archer has added an extra computer-controlled character to spice up the action. This means that you can get thumped from two different directions at the same time! No wonder the fighters are always seeing stars.

Obviously, in the one-player mode, the computer controls the other two fighters. But when there are two players it's quite good fun to gang up on the computer man.

It won't take too long before you discover there are some new moves which you can make. My favourite is the backflip, an almost acrobatic movement which allows you to zip out of trouble.

The other is more difficult to describe. Imagine your player is trapped between the other fighters. It's possible to get him to face out of the screen and jump with both legs moving out and upwards in what is a very balletic way. Get your timing right and it's possible to put your opponents flat on their backs very quickly.

The other moves are fairly standard but I did miss the absence of the roundhouse kick. Still, you can't have everything I suppose.

Archer has also added a touch of humour by making the fighter's karate suit bottoms fall down occasionally, turning the game briefly into a sort of Carry On Karate.

At the end of the timed bout a mystical oriental appears on the screen to give the verdict on who came first or second or third.

The bonus screen is also new. The player stands in the middle of the screen holding a round shield. From the other side bouncing balls fly towards him. By quick movements, first right, then left, it's possible to deflect the balls. Miss and they knock him over. Very original and great fun.

Besides the fight action, the game is full of nice little touches. In fact, when I noticed them I was so distracted that I ended up getting caught by the odd punch or kick.

These touches include spiders coming down from the odd structure in the background, fish jumping out of the water, and strange creatures appearing to slither across the screen.

Try it, buy it, enjoy it. This will be a number one game.