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Philleas Fogg is a strange little game. It seems this wise man (complete with handlebar moustache) was on one of his trips around the world when he volunteered for a dangerous and daring mission.

Set in the war fields of 1871, Fogg controls his special hydrogen balloon complete with High Pressure Thrust (oo-er) and splatters the enemy with the bombs he's carrying. Moving around the landscape is bleedin' hard work, as the wind blows you wherever it feels like and floating too low over enemies may result in the balloon being popped and the gas igniting - BOOM!!!

You take off by dropping sandbags over the side of the basket to make the balloon lighter. The more sandbags or bombs dropped the easier the balloon is to control. There are four levels of altitude and getting the correct one for your area is a must. The troopers roaming around blast you at level two, cannons get you at level three, hills are tough to cross and mountains can't be passed at all.

Towns, rocks, lakes and shacks are also dotted around the levels and all affect the balloon. There's also the odd friendly shack, identified by a flag, and landing near one of these will increase your hydrogen, bomb and sandbag levels.

Balloon Battles is extremely annoying at first. You have to read the instructions over and over before you reaslise what you're supposed to be doing! Once you've got the hang of the game it's quite fun, though. Zeppelin have always been one for the more obscure titles and this is one of them - great fun to play.

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