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Normally the film's hardly stopped rattling around the projector spools before a computer tie-in hits the shelves, but Back To The Future II has taken an age to be released. Fortunately for Mirrorsoft the movie cycle has come full circle and the sequel of the sequel, Back To The Future III, is currently doing the rounds of the nation's fleapits and free publicity is up for grabs.

The film revolves around Marty McFly's journey to 2015 to stop his son getting into trouble with the law. He's about to get involved in a robbery with Griff, the grandson of Biff (the thug in the first film).

You play Marty and must get to the Town Hall to stop Griff's robbery. Unfortunately you're being chased by a gang of hoverboarding punks. You've got a hoverboard too, but you've got to be pretty good at riding it to get there in time.

You skate up and down roads and sidewalks, avoiding Griff's heavies, cars and other traffic hazards. You pick up bonus items on the way giving you extra speed and energy, and can even hitch a ride on the back of passing cars - though you'll probably get run over attempting this.

The second section shows an overhead view of your girlfriend, Jennifer's house. She's in danger of meeting herself in the future (a well-known time-travelling problem). You control the doors in the house and must let Jenny out without her meeting any members of her future family.

Complete that and you're thrown into an alternate 1985 where Biff is causing mayhem. He's nicked a Sports Almanac from the future and transported it back in time to make himself rich. He's now the head of a big gang of criminals which you have to defeat in a left scrolling beat-'em-up.

After that you have an abstract logic puzzle to solve. It's one of those old-fashioned sliding puzzle squares where you re-arrange the pieces to show a picture. The subject of the picture is you, performing in the school jazz band in 1955.

If you make it through all that you face another hoverboard scenario, but this time in 1955. The traffic's different and the enemy are reduced to pedestrians making the game a bit easier. The same rules apply and the same bonus items can be picked up. The most important item is the Almanac, your passport to a safe future.

Back To The Future II is a colourful and somewhat schizophrenic game, comprising two logic puzzles and three arcade-style sections. It's an interesting combination of styles, using Paperboy-ish and Dragon Ninja-type action with old-style games like chess and puzzle squares.

Graphically and musically the game is superb, with some excellent attention to detail. There are introductory animation sequences to each sub-game, and a tuneful rendition of the Back To The Future II theme.

The different sub-games sound great in principle, but Back To The Future II is a pig to complete and suffers from an incredibly tough first level. The collision detection is well out of order, as is the joystick response - very frustrating.

The puzzles provide a well-needed breathing space between action sequences and though the game is not what it could have been, there should be something in it for everybody - if you can just get far enough to reach it!