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Just when Strider was considering quitting the inter-planetary peace force, the leader of Earth was kidnapped by a bunch of power-hungry aliens! So, pausing only to pick up his trusty titanium blade and his new laser gun, Strider sets off to the first of five alien territories that he will need to destroy in order to rescue the leader of Earth (who is, incidentally, a woman).

The journey to the final confrontation takes Strider through an alien-infested forest, and from then it's on to the two towers which form the outer defences of the alien world. When these defences have been well and truly breached, Strider than had to make his way through underground caverns to the generating station - destroying the enemy power-stations before finally rescuing the girl being held captive in the Earth Spacecraft.

But Strider has one more lethal trick tucked into his striding trousers. The power-up icons which are lying around endow Strider with the power to change into a robot, just the ticket for creaming enemy guardians - and there's plenty of 'em!

I must have been the only person in the civilised world who thought that all versions of the original Strider were rather lacking. It came as a big surprise to find that Strider II is a completely different kettle of fish.

Although it's pretty far removed from the arcade original, Strider II is a whole barrel of excitement from the word go. The playability is pretty good, and Striker is really responsive. The graphics are very colourful (although the clash at times is a bit heavy on the eyes), and the scrolling is fast and pretty damn smooth.

There's plenty of levels to keep you occupied and they're a bit on the large side, so lasting interest is guaranteed. The problem is that there's an absolutel heap of classic Speccy platform game available (some at budget price) that are better. Buy it if you want a real Strider game.

An improvement on the original without doubt, but the cramped playing area is a bit of a downer. Recommended to platform addicts after a challenge.