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The cyberworld of Thraxx has been invaded and everyone on it ruthlessly slaughtered - except you, Hiro, the last of the Bladeknight warriors. As Havok and his army of mutant warriors. As Havok and his army of mutant warriors gloat amidst the blood-splattered ruins you plot revenge. The legendary Fireblade has been shattered into sixteen pieces; find them all and the magical sword will reassemble, enabling you to defeat Havok.

It's a familiar storyline and the gameplay - a mix of beat-'em-up, exploration and platforms-and-ladders - isn't that original either. One novel feature is the control system: movement is perfectly conventional but combat is unusual. At the bottom right of the screen there's a status bar which rises as you hold down fire. Depending when you release fire, you get a punch, high kick or low sweeping kick. It's an odd system but it works well enough and means you're not struggling to get joystick diagonals. Another status bar shows vitality; when this reaches zero you lose one of five lives.

True to its arcade-style intro Switchblade is packed with objects to collect. Besides weapons, there are bonus gems (including Orbs which shatter if they hit the ground!) and letters to collect - spell B-O-N-U-S for 10,000 points and E-X-T-R-A for another life. Most are concealed in special blocks which disintegrate when punched.

The game is set in the Undercity, a vast labyrinth packed with platforms, ladders, traps, monsters and hidden exits. Traps include proximity-sprung spikes, while monsters come in sixteen increasingly powerful varieties. With such a large map to explore, it's unsurprising that Hiro himself and most of the enemy creatures are rather small, but later on there's the promise of some bigger creatures.

Originally released a year ago on the Amiga Switchblade was a big hit with some people for its coin-op feel - the intro, biggish map, numerous bonus items and weapons - but the graphics were unimpressive on 16-bit and are similarly disappointing on the C64. They're not bad but they just don't have the detail or variety to compete with games such as Myth and Hammerfist. Nevertheless while gameplay is unoriginal, it works very well and mappers will probably find it compulsive.

A bit of a late conversion, this and sadly suffering the same faults as the Amiga original. Exloration is fun at first, with plenty of hidden exits and bonuses to discover, but there just isn't enough graphical or gameplay variety to keep you coming back.

Most baddies are easily despatched by standing on a crate and kicking their heads in - except the countless scuttling scorpions which are hard to avoid/kill and soon get on your nerves.

All the weapons below are thrown and vary in strength according to how long you hold down Fire. All except the Fireblade have limited ammo. Most can be enhanced by up to eight extra points by collecting power-up shields.

To get maximum power you must hold fire down until it reaches the end of the bar. Other power-ups increase fire rate, replenish vitality and give 16 seconds of invulnerability.

1. Blade. Can be improved in range. 2. Scorchball. Only stops when it hits a wall or exceeds maximum, improvable range. 3. Dart. Limited range with no combat rating effect. 4. Spinblade. Improvable speed. 5. Needle Bolts. The higher the rating, the more you throw! 6. Trispike. Unlimited range, no combat rating effect. 7. Fireblade. Colleact all the pieces to get this permanent weapon which has an unlimited range and the most powerful hit power of all.

Presentation 70%
Simple but attractive intro and choice of FX or music.

Graphics 64%
Flick-screen backdrops lack variety while sprites are undistinguished. Some nice details though, such as bonus point totals appearing and swirling debris after a fight.

Sound 74%
A choice of reasonable spot FX or a good tune.

Hookability 71%
Easy to get into and exploration is initially addictive.

Lastability 60%
128 screens aren't that many and graphic variety is limited.

Overall 67%
A faithful conversion which genre fans will enjoy.