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Everyone's idea of a jolly good time I'm sure: getting repeatedly hit by orientals of diminutive stature, wearing baggy pyjamas with bright coloured belts on. What a spiffing wheeze, eh?

Instead of the usual 'you against the computer baddy' playing-style, your nerve, skill and reflexes are now pitted against *two* opposing martial artistes, in an all-out struggle for glory and survival.

The massacre takes place by a secluded Far Eastern beach. You've got a wide selection of suitably violent moves and your main aim in each level is to fill the six circle symbol thingies at the top of the screen.

Each stage survived moves you a step closer to receiving a higher Dan or skill level and a change in belt colour. Your ultimate goal in life is to reach the coveted Black Belt status, and the only way to do that is to continually smack, punch and generally abuse your way through a multitude of steadily harder challenges. Good, eh?

Every two levels there's one of two bonus stages: either deflect bouncing balls using a shield or kick and dodge a series of bombs.

Aaa-so.

So many, in fact, that we've only got space for a few. Wanna see more? You'll just have to play it, then.

Speed: f6 - Turbo, f7 - Swift, f8 - Normal, f9 - Boring, f10 - Extremely slow

The Rest: T - Trousers fall down, SPACE-P - Sound FX in pause mode, B - Different shield, * - Scroll colours

While the C64 is drowning in a sea of beat-'em-ups, its big brother has hardly had any of real quality - until now. It's quite a relief to see one as good as IK+ smashing its way on to our screens. It's dead slick for a start: little dancing silhouettes, psychedelic rainbow effect on the title screen, fluent and accurate animation of the three fighters in the game.

On top of that, you've got loads of amusing additions like a periscope popping up from the ocean and the fighters' trousers falling down (Well, *I* thought they were funny, anyway!).

Oh yeah - the gameplay. It's brill: the best kicking simulator I've seen on any computer - buy it, despite the price.

The whole make-up of IK+ oozes quality. The graphics are bright, colourful and very well animated, even down to the little worm which keeps on crossing the screen (aah!).

There's a staggering amount of different moves to try out, including a fantastic back-flip, which is really handy for getting behind someone and giving them a sharp smack in the head. It's so realistic when they shout out, you actually cringe with pain.

Like most beat-'em-ups, IK+ is going to lose a certain amount of pulling power after a while, though lack of variety.

On the other hand, it's got brilliant gameplay and really outstanding graphical additions, so who cares?

Presentation 93%
Two-player game, excellent title screen and front end with a wealth of both useful and trivial options.

Graphics 88%
Colourful sprites with some fantastic animation plus amusing background characters.

Sound 83%
Realistic squeals of agony run side-by-side with a lively up-tempo oriental ditty.

Hookability 85%
Has enough polish and playability to grab your attention immediately.

Lastability 77%
Once play is perfected, however, interest is bound to diminish a bit, even with the two-player option.

Overall 86%
The best karate game you can buy for the Amiga, so far.