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What was Felix Leiter thinking of when he invited long time friend and colleague James Bond to be best man? Everyone knows anywhere Bond goes, trouble always follows - in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James couldn't even get to the honeymoon hotel before his own bride got killed! And sure enough, the gunfire starts before you can say "I do, aaarrghh!" and the would-be Leiter family get all messed up.

Never one to live and let live, James resigns from Her Majesty's Secret Service and goes off like a thunderball to scare the living daylights out of the drug smuggler - Sanchez - who orchestrated the attack. There are a number of steps to tracking down such a master criminal, the first being to hit him where it really hurts, right in the shipments.

So it's up in a chopper to start destroying the narcotics factories and chase down Sanchez, who's doing a runner in a jeep. The dealers don't seem too keen about being bombed and fire back forcing you to use both height and speed to line up the sheds for demolition. Like Thunderblade, it's a case of swooping in at just the right moment with guns blazing to keep the damage counter from ticking into critical.

Having made your way through the valley of death you've got to nip out of the 'copter and get down to a gun fight. You see Bond from above, sighting the gun with a floating cursor. You've only a limited amount of ammunition and so dead traffickers must be looted for extra bullets - ammo can also be preserved by shooting the barrels of aviation fuel which litter the airfield, making them explode.

Sanchez escapes in a plane, and so to employ his Licence to Kill the world's favourite secret agent has to go up in the helicopter once more. This time you're not trying to shoot anything down but latch onto the plane's tail. Yes that's right, never happy to do things the easy way and get on at the airport, you've got to try and hitch a lift - at 10,000 feet!

Next, you visit a drug drop zone and take a quick dip with some particularly vicious divers, gunboats and harpoons. Then it's time to steal a seaplane and go for the finale: a chase with 18 wheeler trucks as they make a dash for the border. Life is never as simple as it should be, because the trucks have that everyday extra motoring necessity: Stinger missiles!

Licence To Kill is a compilation of themed games, rather than one scenario that tries to capture the feel of the movie. The music comes straight from the original score and establishes atmosphere for the adventure. And all the best and most spectacular scenes of the film have been carefully chosen and recreated by Domark's gold-fingered programmers.

The game is not graphically stunning, but the action and characters are clear. Mostly drawn in a Gauntletesque style. Licence To Kill is the most impressive Bond yet: not exactly innovative, but highly enjoyable to play.

The war against drugs takes on a whole new slant as James helps you say Dr. No to drugs. Licence To Kill is a game which you'll see the end of without a poke, as it's intended to be completed, with you then going round again, improving your score.

In the competition for the best movie licence of the summer, Domark have certainly made their pitch with a strong contender. Just when you thought that you'd played every sort of Bond game under the sun, this is proof positive that you'll never say never again! [And that's enough bad puns on Bond film titles - Ed]

Without a doubt, this Bond is the best of the bunch. It's finishable, which makes a change.

10,000 points.

Nothing to complain about.

Graphics 65%
P. A great selection of different playing screens.
N. A bit blocky.

Sonics 83%
P. Brilliant film music conversion.

Grab Factor 77%
P. Simple games, well executed.
P. Six different games in one.

Staying Power 62%
P. A bit too easy for the hard player.
P. Only four levels.

Overall 76%
Great film conversion. The best Bond yet!