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If this is what the future holds for pedestrians then I'm rushing out to buy an armoured car! Faster Than Light, alias Gargoyle Games, has come up with yet another original and amusing offering.

Shockway Rider is set in a futuristic city where people get around on moving walkways. These walkways are dangerous places. There are muggers, street gangs, barriers and bouncing police balls! (?)

The objective is to guide the Shockway Rider, a rockabilly, punk-type character, through eight different districts of the city. To complete a district the rider has to travel full circle on one of the hazard-packed moving pavements. Not an easy task.

The Rider is armed with bricks - which have to be replenished from time to time from "ammo-dumps". He can use these to beat off the street gangs and lob a few at innocent passers-by if you are so inclined.

But the key to the game is the speed at which you can switch "lanes" on the shockway. It's fatal to stay still for too long. There's always someone - or something - waiting to knock your block off. Literally.

Hit a barrier or tangle with a tough-guy and you could just lose your head - which trundles along on the walkway minus the rest of our hero.

The sprites are big and well animated with lots of funny graphic gimmicks to keep your interest alive and kicking. Which is a whole lot easier than keeping your Rider alive and kicking, punching, brick-chucking...

Shockway Rider isn't an easy game by any means. But it is challenging and a whole lot of fun to play. Don't expect to find it easy to start with - but persevere. It's well worth it.

It's nice to see in these days of arcade copies, shoot-'em-up clones by the score that someone can come up with a well thought out, original and playable game. It just oozes quality. Watch out for the jokes on the billboards and get your maps in to Ideas Central pronto! Otherwise I'll never be able to walk alone again!

Gory in places, Shockway Rider could just be the computer game equivalent of a 2000AD comic strip. But it also has the humour of those strips which makes it even more playable. Check it out today.