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Organised crime gangs rule supreme! And bosses don't come bigger than Mr. Big. Your brother was sent off to investigate into what ol' Biggy Boy was up to. Unfortunately, he was caught and murdered. You, being the complete nutter that you are, have decided to go, single-handedly, in his footsteps and try to rid the world of Mr. Big.

You race into the city of Scumsville, where your enemy lurks. Five different areas wait for you to run through before you finally reach the final confrontation. You begin your quest on the top floor of a multi-storey car park and the motorbikers ride at you full pelt across the screen, just asking to be kicked off. A quick flying kick or two is enough to send these bumfaces to a more level confrontation.

On each level of the car park, one motorcyclist has a baseball bat. Hit him enough times to knock him backwards, take it and bingo, Renegade goes whacky-whacky with a bit of wood. The bat scores double damage against opponents. A biker requiring four punches to send him rolling off screen, only needs two hits with the bat, so something definitely worth hanging onto. Defeat all the bikers and you emerge from the car park into a sleazy street. And I mean really sleazy.

Your assailants on this level are, and this is putting it bluntly, ladies of uncertain virtue and pimps. A nasty touch here is the girl's method of attack. She grabs you firmly by the shoulders, then buries her knee if your groin. The pimp's main weapon is his gun. He'll grope in his pocket for a second, then fire one of his six shots at you. After that, he just lays in with his walking cane. Beat up a few of them, and it's off to the city park we go.

A quick joke. What's the definition of beans on toast? Skinheads on a raft. What's that got to do with the game? Well, in the park, you are assaulted by all skinheads great and small. Dressed identically, the smaller skinheads will jump up at you and nut you in the face, the larger will just punch you. Wade through these, and by now the games getting a little difficult, and you're onto the beat up the Beastie Boys and some power saws that look like... dogs.

The BBs are amazingly tall, wear padded jackets and are very hard to hit. The dogs are tiny, but that doesn't stop them from savaging you, starting from your ankles. Get past them and it's into the bar where you'll find the Big Boss, but only if you can get past his heavies, who bear a striking resemblance to Frankenstein.

The graphics are the best of this type that I've seen on the C64. Crisply portrayed and beautifully animated, the word class is written all over the game. Just look at the screens on this page and you'll see what I mean. Well, really you won't.

The great thing about this game is the animation. Your character doesn't mince like some I could mention, neither does he glide. He *bowls*, and in the most I'm-a-hard-man-and-I-know-it way possible.

Mr. Big, is fantastic. He comes on screen doubled-up and wades towards you, swinging his arms threateningly. He had to bend over, by the way, because he wouldn't fit on the screen any other way. He is huge! Destroying him is just a matter of having a couple of lives left and continually hitting the fire button. Once you defeat him, you see, well, I'll let you find out for yourself.

The sound is varied and very much with the game. Different pieces of music accompany each level, and all are very synth-like. Sound effects are spot on, too, with your aluminium baseball bat making a ping sound whenever it hits body.

Renegade was pretty gross on the C64, and a lot of criticism was given. Imagine has obviously listened to those complaints very closely and come up with a sure-fire number one. Easily the best C64 arcade game for ages.