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Due to some unnamed catastrophe, New York City has been left in ruins, terrorized by 'marginals and rodents' (i.e. street gangs) and ruled by drug barons who live in luxurious mansions. Needless to say this is a tad embarrassing for the US government, so they ask the CIA to clean things up. While there's a law to stop the CIA operating in the US - look what they did to Nicaragua! - director John Stevens isn't one to be troubled by such things.

CIA checkpoints at strategic positions soon have the street gangs on the run. Within a month of the operation starting, John Stevens has been so successful that drug barons decide to kidnap him. And this is where you come in. Armed only where you come in. Armed only with a .357 Magnum and Black Virgin (a blank panther, one hastens to explain), you must free John Stevens.

There are six levels, with the screens moving by flick-screen fashion on both C64 and Amiga. On the latter, levels are multi-loaded, on the former it's a single load. There's a fair variety of villains, with the Amiga manual have pictures of them all, but apart from changing hairstyles and clothing there isn't that much variety. At the end of each level on the Amiga, there's a super baddie who's a big taller than the normal thugs, and requires more hits to kill. Intelligent agents will save some of their bullets just for him.

At last Virgin have some competition in the beat-'em-up biz, but truth to tell, Titus haven't produced that much of a threat. On the C64 you can get through to Mr. Stevens by simply jumping over the thugs, and using the gun since there's so much spare ammo lying around.

The trip back is harder, but combat is so limited that you soon give up. Graphics are poor, with the main character having a pathetic mincing walk. On the Amiga, the graphics make much better use of the machine, and are quite impressive. Gameplay is much better as well, although a lack of variety makes it poor value for £25.

Wild Streets isn't impressive on either machine, but in terms of gameplay, at least the Amiga game has some! Considering this is meant to be a beat-'em-up, it's a little surprising that, on the C64, you can easily get through the levels by either shooting everyone or just running and jumping past them! The graphics are equally poor with blocky, jerkily animated characters, some of which move slower than a dead snail.

The Amiga version is considerably better with some attractive backgrounds and a beautifully animated panther. Thankfully, the game's also a lot tougher. Here, the beat-'em-up action, although repetitive, at least provides a decent challenge.

Presentation 71%
A simple load and a nice intro picture.

Graphics 40%
Mediocre backgrounds and flick-screen scrolling are disappointing, but the appallingly animated stickmen are worse.

Sound 46%
Fairly nice in-game tune, which gets confused if you use the gun.

Hookability 45%
Much too easy to get to Mr. Stevens...

Lastability 26%
...and after that, it gets worse.

Overall 34%
An extremely disappointing conversion of a mediocre game.

Presentation 70%
Average title screen and high score table. Fast multi-load.

Graphics 72%
Very nicely detailed backdrops and characters, but why the flick-screen? Animation is only average and variety is limited.

Sound 78%
Inoffensive in-game soundtrack with some convincing thumps and growls.

Hookability 73%
Simple beat-'em-up format is easy to get into and immediately compelling, but...

Lastability 60%
...apart from the panther there's nothing new, and the villains are dull.

Overall 67%
Fun for a while, but overpriced and unoriginal.