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Up until now, conversions of Konami games have arrived courtesy of Imagine - from now on however, Konami have decided to produce and market their own conversions rather than sell licences. The first Konami-produced conversion off the production line is Jail Break, soon to be followed by Nemesis.

The inmates from the local prison have broken out of their cells, seized the repeating rifles from the armoury and overrun the town. The Warden is tied to a stake in the middle of his own prison, and the convicts have captured innocent men, women and children to aid their bargaining position. You are the sole surviving lawman, and it's up to you to rescue as many of the hostages as possible, while eliminating the rampaging prisoners before they do any more damage.

Starting out in the city streets armed with a pistol and an endless supply of bullets, the aim is to make your way along four horizontally scrolling sections and rescue the Warden for a massive 50,000 point bonus. Prisoners dressed in striped prison trousers scurry along the streets, bare-chested and dragging a ball and chain. Almost all are armed, and they loose off triple shots at the merest provocation.

The action is viewed from the side, with the policeman moving in one of four directions, firing his weapon in the direction in which he is facing. Convicts lurk below manhole covers, peeking out to take pot shots, while snipers have installed themselves in vantage points beside the roadway. The prisoners run along the road from right to left, turning from time to time to shoot across the width of the street and occasionally sending a bullet or two from the left of the screen. Five lives are provided, and touching a convict or stopping a bullet leads to death, with play resuming from the start of the level (unless you expire halfway along a section).

Rescuing hostages by walking into them earns bonus points and more advanced weapons. The first hostage rescued earns a tear gas launcher, while the second liberated citizen hands over a rocket gun. The additional weapons appear as icons on a status panel at the base of the screen, and pressing the Space bar toggles between the weapons held. All added weaponry is lost when you die.

Barrels litter the streets obstructing progress - the only way to dispose of them is to use the rocket gun, while the tear gas launcher allows you to kill off snipers. All three weapons are deadly against the running convicts, and 500 points are collected for each convict, sniper or barrel destroyed. According to the inlay hi-jacked trash vans career down the streets and can only be stopped with the rocket gun, but after extensive play in the office the vans had still failed to appear...

After fighting your way through the city streets, the action transfers to the park, and then moves on to the waterfront as you approach the jail itself. The final section is played against the drab grey institutional interior of the prison; take care when approaching the Warden - the prisoners are likely to shoot him before those lovely points can be collected. When the Warden has been rescued or killed by the convicts the game cycles round to the beginning again and another rescue mission can be attempted, but this time the convicts are really out in force...

For a first release from Konami, Jail Break is extremely disappointing. It is lacking in so much - not only are the graphics jerky and ill-defined, but the gameplay is seriously deficient. It's the little things that are only noticeable by their absence that really let it down.

For one, there's the appalling collision detection; sometimes I walked through a stream of bullets and other times I died for no apparent reason.

There's the way prisoners appear with only half a body (!), and the totally unconvincing way in which the characters move... I could say go on, but it's easier to say give this one a miss.

I think Konami would have been better off leaving this conversion to Imagine and collecting the licence fee. The game quickly becomes routine - count the three shots fired by a convict as he turns to fire across the street, and then move forward.

The collision detection is decidedly ropey - sometimes a bullet can pass through your feet and do no damage while at other times the 'Got Me' message flashes up to indicate that you've lost a life and you can't work out what hit you!

The controls feel cumbersome; it's tricky to line up with the convicts when shooting along the street and the animation is rather minimalistic. Overall, a disappointing start to Konami's in-house conversions, that doesn't do justice to the competence of their arcade games.

Jail Break is abysmal. It would only have been slightly less awful if it was a little easier, if there was more variety, and if the collision detection wasn't so poor. It's phenomenally frustrating to get shot when it looks as though a bullet is going to miss.

What's more infuriating though, is that a prisoner can shoot you when you can't shoot him! Even with infinite lives, I found it incredibly difficult to get through to the last level - and when I did, I was astounded to discover that there are only four very similar, banal and simple levels.

A complete waste of time and money - wholeheartedly recommended to those with extreme masochistic tendencies.

Presentation 46%
Adequate packaging, poor instruction, and basic in-game presentation.

Graphics 37%
Crude sprites and backdrops, and juddery scrolling.

Sound 62%
A good tune plays throughout.

Hookability 39%
Far too difficult and repetitive to be rewarding or enthralling.

Lastability 26%
Immensely frustrating and tiresome to play, and only four similar stages to complete.

Value For Money 24%
Not enough variety or playability to warrant the price tag.

Overall 30%
A bad conversion of an unremarkable arcade game.