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Rabbits are generally cute little wiggly-nosed and fluffy-tailed critters, who chomp loadsa lettuce leaves and reproduce at an alarming rate. But following the trend of mutated tortoises, cats and turtles, there's a new breed of rabbit. So with a copy of the Hong Kong Book Of Kung-Fu in hand, Mark "Usagi Yojimbo" Caswell joins in the fun...

Having destroyed the nasty chemical plant in Ninja Rabbits (50%, issue 75) our bobtailed hero took a well-deserved holiday in Bognor Regis (Exciting stuff!).

But he soon got bored (as you do!), and upon returning to civilisation found other nasty chemical plants were farting out toxic gases, turning normal peaceful creatures and humans into raving loonies (working in the Zzap! office has a similar polka-dot banana, sorry, effect).

It's up to Bugs to travel the world and beat seven shades of currants out of the antisocial basket cases (hold on, this is the plot to the first game).

This offering's split into several independently loaded blocks, with our lad up to his neck in trouble. As he strolls from left to right across the screen, lop ears is attacked by a motley bunch of villains. But luckily your character is a graduate of the school of life, with a degree in getting the crap kicked out of him.

For years he's studied the ancient martial art of "No Can Do" (alongside Hong Kong Phooey), so he performs stacks of eye-watering moves, including high kicks, standing kicks, punches and whacking people with a huge plank of wood (he should have been a Morris Dancer).

But beware, 'cos the attackers plant a smacker on your character in return. Each hit takes a chunk out of the old energy meter (unsurprisingly shaped like a carrot). Sentient attackers aren't all he has to worry about. What look like black snooker balls swoop from the skies, mini dragons (oh Clifford) swoop out of the blue and snowballs whack big ears in the kisser without warning.

The vertically moving objects have to be sidestepped (our ninja pal taught John Travolta all the dance steps he knows). But duck the ones that fly across the screen (cue chorus of the old 'duck... where?' joke).

Kick or punch mystery crates to reveal the goodies contained within. Some of the contents are helpful (energy, bonus points, etc) but others are downright nasty (lost energy, lost lives, loss of interest, etc).

International Ninja Rabbits is a slight improvement on the original game, but Micro Value could at least have changed the plot. They claim this is a sequel to Ninja Rabbits, it's more of a continuation. The gameplay and sprites have been improved - the rabbit and attacking sprites look more like live animals now, instead of extras from 'The Woodentops'.

The backgrounds are bright and colourful, but are at times a bit OTT. The game's best played wearing a pair of shades, otherwise a migraine could well be the end result. Overall, International Ninja Rabbits is just worthy of consideration.

I'm not usually inspired by martial arts beat-'em-up games, but the title of this one caught my eye. What will they think of next? Kung-fu kangaroos? Sadly the title was the only thing that did interest me, and dire gameplay and infuriatingly unresponsive controls ensure that this game gets a resounding raspberry from yours truly. The sprites themselves are a good size and are well-detailed, but it's a shame that their movements are so jerky and limited. The loading screen is very good but unfortunately this being the most enjoyable thing about the game as a whole, it's not destined for my classic collection.

Presentation 76%
One player, neat title screen, multi-load isn't too annoying.

Graphics 75%
Bright and colourful sprites, a bit too bright at times.

Sound 50%
Atmospheric title tune, but bog-standard in-game effects.

Hookability 73%
Easy to get into, the attackers aren't too violent.

Lastability 62%
You won't be "at it" for too long. Anyone for Irish

Overall 67%