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A number of abortive attempts have been made to convert a comic strip into a successful game.

At last, however, a game has emerged with the graphical feel of a comic book, but with the added flexibility offered by bringing the characters to life on the screen.

The game, called Sidewalk, is published by the French software house Infogrames, and features a scruffy little character - namely, you.

Unfortunately someone has stolen your pushbike, dismantled it, and hidden each of the parts in a different location in and around the back streets of Paris. Some parts are just lying around waiting to be found, others are now the prize possessions of various characters you may meet on your travels.

The game starts in mid-afternoon, and you've only got until 7.30pm to find all the bits to your bike, re-assemble them, and get to your girlfriends in time to take her to the concert this evening. If you're late, she'll go with that wally, John, from round the corner... oh, and don't forget to pick up a couple of tickets for the concert or she'll be really peeved.

Sidewalk is essentially a joystick/icon-controlled adventure with arcade combat bits thrown in for good measure. The game screen is split into six rectangles, three along the top and three along the bottom half of the screen.

The top half of the screen is where you see the comic unfold. On the extreme left you can see yourself in various states, ranging from good health to dead, via knocked almost senseless but still kicking.

The right hand window shows any characters you may meet, and is also used to show your health, represented by a pint glass containing an ever-decreasing quantity of beer... regular visits to the bar are highly recommended, especially as the beer's free.

The central window is used for movement and combat. In each location you can move across from left to right, or turn to face and/or move in another direction, all under joystick control.

Ranged along the centre of the screen are three icons which allow you to interact with other characters. There let you ask questions, fight or run away. Underneath these icons is the message area, in which conversations are displayed.

At the bottom of the screen are your inventory (what bits of your bike you've already recovered), plus windows showing cash, and any spanners (needed to re-assemble your bike), tickets, etc, you may have picked up along the way.

As the game unfolds, various other graphics or text windows are overlaid on the screen. These either show you running away, drinking, or give information on the character you have just met. It's important to know, for example, that the guy you were contemplating beating up is, in fact, a 19 stone, ex-Sumo wrestler!

Certain individuals must be persuaded it's in their better interests to part with their parts, or they'll get their blocks knocked off!

Although the control mechanism of Sidewalk takes a lot of getting used to, the single colour graphics are superb, perfectly capturing the spirit of the game. There are enough problems to keep the average adventurer happy, although this is by no means a game for the adventure purist... for example, the icon-driven interaction system does away with the need for any text input.

Sidewalk is a strange mixture of adventure and arcade, with stunning graphics, a novel, and sometimes annoying, control mechanism, and the kind of humour and feel that will appeal to comic buffs, who may finally be persuaded that comics and computer games can be combined to provide a piece of genuine entertainment.