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You should have been there! The backflip across the screen defied description. The move was only marred by this clown in a red suit delivering a headbutt, straight in my kisser. I was out for the count.

There are very few games around nowadays that make your Amstrad smile. There's Gryzor, of course, and... well, that's it really. Thank God for International Karate Plus.

The powerplay is pretty much the accepted standard for martial arts games - a wide variety of moves and a battle for points. However, System 3 has added a new twist - the third fight, the joker in the pack which means that you daren't turn your back unless you want a fist or foot smacked into it.

There is also a new bonus screen in which you must deflect bouncing balls with a shield. But more of that later.

Your player has seventeen joystick moves, ranging from the previously mentioned spectacular backflip to flying leap kick, front face punch to crouching stomach punch and headbutt to reverse face kick. So you can see there're plenty of options when it comes to taking your opponents apart.

A match consists of two fight rounds and a bonus round. You can either have one player against two computer-controlled fighters or two human-controlled man fighting each other and the computer fighter.

Points are awarded for punches, kicks and butts. An animated judo judge appears every thirty seconds to announce the current positions of the fighters. Every third round you get - if you're winning - to play the bonus round.

As I said before, in this you must deflect balls, which bounce from both sides of the screen, with a hand-held shield. This is okay for a while but I became a little bored with it after the first few times.

As the rounds progress, the fighting becomes progressively harder. Players get coloured belts awarded at around level 25.

A nice touch is that the computer-controlled fighters do not perform the same strategy each time. They may, for example, fight each other.

The background graphics and the animation of the fighters are really neat. The sound is okay too. So if you fancy beating up your Amstrad, then International Karate Plus is just the game to do it.