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"Ahh sooo" I cried, as yet again I bit the dust in inglorious defeat and I must admit my thoughts were on similar lines. This martial arts fighting game comes a little late compared to the others on the market but having arrived, it's a case of better late than never.

The game comes in a double cassette case and is one of the few that actually contains two cassettes, on one tape is the master program and the unarmed combat sequence and the other tape has the pole fighting and the sword fighting sections. Once you have loaded the master program, you have the choice of loading in one of the sequences for practice purposes or beginning the game properly by starting with the unarmed phase and battling your way through all three phases to achieve Ninja status.

Each phase has slightly different actions to the previous one and when i say all sixteen (eight without the fire button and eight with) joystick positions are used then you have a lot of training to do to achieve even reasonable control. Unlike many similar programs on the market, you can turn to face the other way and then the joystick operates logically in a mirror image of the initial controls, i.e. Left to move forwards becomes right to move forward. Although this sounds confusing in practice, it is logical and easy to adapt to.

The major factor in a game of this type is whether the graphics are well animated and realistic and I cannot tell a lie, I thought they were the best I've seen! Added to this is the superbly designed backgrounds which feature animation and activity while you are battling it out. A nice touch was the way the people carrying the carriages put them down to applaud before continuing on their mystical way.

The difficulty level has been well considered and even on the first few attempts I managed to beat the first couple of opponents though there appaer to be quite a few to each section and they get pretty good as the game progresses. Sound is kept to a minimum and the graphics and colour are first rate. I must admit to being hooked, and my only real criticism is that the first sequence was murder to load. Strangely enough the other two never gave me any trouble.

All round a great game and one to buy in preference to any other of its type and even as well as any other you may already have!

A Monster Hit.