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He's been a bit quiet lately, old Rambo - time was when you couldn't cross the street without seeing a big poster of Sylvester Stallone toting a enormous weapon and making grunting noises (fnarr!).

Well, the movies became more predictable as the series went on, but oddly enough the games got better, and Rambo III is consequently the best of the lot.

It's in three sections, the first basically a flip-screen maze seen in top-down semi-perspective; Rambo searches an enemy compound for his captured CO, picking up objects such as rubber gloves which get him through electrified doors.

In the second section, which has the same basic format, Rambo searches outside the base for eight bombs which have to be defused; and in the final bit, which has a Operation Wolf style forward-scrolling format, you take control of a tank and blast your way through enemy armoured cars, soldiers and rockets.

It's all good stuff, good enough to be a budget bargain if not original enough to qualify for classic status. It just goes to show that old soldiers never die, they just reappear on budget.

Label: Hit Squad Memory: 48K/128K Price: £2.99 Tape Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

This time it's all-out war - the best of the Rambo series and not to be missed if you like shootin' things.