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Don't worry - you haven't missed Who Dares Wins I. The title is because the original game was withdrawn after a legal dispute due to its similarity to an arcade game called Commando. The official conversion of that game is due out soon, so it will be interesting to see how they compare.

The game really gets back to the arcade roots of killing everything in sight in a frantic battle of reflexes and speed. That would be enough for some, but WDW also has tremendous 3D graphics and backgrounds with a wide variety of screens and challenges. You control a man on a mission to capture enemy outposts and release captured prisoners. At first, it seems like a variant on Robotron as you run around in circles, zapping soldiers, but the more complicated nature of the game soon reveals itself.

There are eight enemy outposts and each one is reached by fighting through several other screens. These are all composed of many different landscape features including ruined buildings, trees, rivers, walls, foxholes, railway lines and fences. Whatever the features, you can bet there will be lots of soldiers and other things waiting to kill you.

The man you control and the enemy soldiers have the same armament of an automatic rifle and a limited supply of grenades. Rifle fire can be sprayed around in true Rambo style, trying to hit anything that moves, while grenades can be used against a partially concealed soldier or enemy vehicle. All this killing will bump up the score and there are some nice bonuses to be had for blasting fast-moving soldiers at an outpost or rescuing prisoners.

The prisoner appears on some screens in front of an executioner who, after a few seconds, will shoot him. You have to let the executioner have it first and will be rewarded by the prisoner waving happily at you before he ungratefully runs off and leaves you to face the wrath of the enemy on your own.

The intrepid, battle-hardened soldier can progress between screens at any time by walking off the top, but at the outpost every last one of the horde of enemy has to be wiped out to capture it. Getting killed on any screen will return you to the start of it with the enemy back to full strength.

There are a number of things that will aid progress. Rifle bullets are limitless in supply and even though grenades can run out, there are supply balloons that drop in replacements. Grenades also have the advantage of killing over a wider radius and even when thrown by the enemy they can still destroy their own men.

The graphics are superb, with 3D being used to great effect - you can use terrain features for cover against bullets and walk behind them as well. There is good use of colour and animation as well, particularly when vehicles travel across screen. The sound effects are suitably noisy and the title screen has a short version of the theme from "The Great Escape".

Although the blasting and killing may not suit everyone, the game is a great little package of graphics, sound, demanding gameplay and a variety of features. This should be a real winner with some real mean crossfire in the later stages and if you do conquer eight outposts, guess what happens? That's right - the same eight, only even harder!

They should have called it Rambotron, since the old Robotron game crossed with the antics of the muscle-bound hero is what it basically is. And none the worse for that - lots of indiscriminate killing combined with excellent graphics makes this a game to satisfy anyone who's been longing for a good shoot-'em-up amidst the flood of arcade adventures. It will provide quite a long-term challenge, but is easy enough to get into for the oldest of soldiers.

P. Great fun blasting away at the enemy.
P. Terrific 3D graphics, characters and colour.
P. Eight outposts comprising several screens each.
P. Some really tough screens against murderous enemy crossfire.
P. Good variety of game features and screen design.

N. May not suit those who dislike violent games.
N. Can be frustrating having to start a screen from scratch.