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Namco's Metrocross hits the small screen as US Gold kick off their string of coin-op conversion releases for the summer.

The original Namco coin-op wasn't a classic by any means and the US Gold programmers haven't done a bad job converting it. But I found early levels too easy to play and later levels too difficult.

More on that later - but in case you haven't seen the game before, here's a quick run down on what it's all about.

You find yourself in the running shoes of a futuristic jogger out to break speed records in a marathon race across a 23rd century city.

The streets are full of hazards - static, mobile and explosive. It's your task to run, jump and dodge as fast as you can and beat the clock - earning mega-points and progressing to the next, more difficult level.

That's the idea - how about the execution? Well, as you'd expect, the Atari ST version looks closest to the original - although the jogger character is tiny. Scrolling is pretty smooth and the tune almost identical to the original. Graphics are nice - watch out for the Coke cans.

The Coke cans feature in the Amstrad version too - but the graphics are generally chunky and the animation of your jogger is fairly crude.

Perhaps the most disappointing version is on the C64. Once again, you're faced with chunky graphics.

The music is good - but just try playing the game with it turned off. Where are the sound effects? A few bleeps and burps for jumps and an explosion sound for the landmines. That's it. No running sounds at all.

You might find yourself captured by the game for short periods - but unless you really loved the coin-op original and don't want to spend any more money trying to beat it, I reckon you might find the asking price of nearly £10 for some versions a bit too much.