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Loriciels UK have fourteen titles lined up for us this year, and if Bob Winner is anything to go by, then 1989 can't come too soon.

Everything about this game, from the misleading on-screen prompts to the shoddy animation, is sloppy and second-rate. If this is representative of France's number one software house then the French software market must be even less discriminating than our own.

Loading the cassette is a thankless task guaranteed to annoy the most patient user. Frequent prompting to 'press Play and Return' is suddenly followed by the command to 'Return and rewind the tape'. This will get you absolutely nowhere, until you realise that 'return' means turn over the tape. In other words, load in Side B (or, as the French put it, Face B). Doesn't anyone test these things?

Included in the package is a silly cartoon book which does its best to convince us that there actually is a plot to the game. There isn't, and it soon becomes obvious that Bob Winner is nothing more than a mediocre combat sim which throws together savate (French kick fighting), boxing and wild west gunfights. The programmers have added some digitised cosmopolitan scenery - like International Karate, but not as good - together with a few rolling barrels and killer wasps, in a desperate attempt to liven up what is a crushingly dull game.

Play begins in Paris, and it's not long before Bob's being menaced by 'the little Frenchman with his arrogant moustache' who's just begging to be kicked in the Champs-Elysees. Before he can do that, however, Bob's got to sneak past him and brave the dangers of the desert which has mysteriously encroached upon the French capital. After a few minutes dodging the flying knives, bullets and other hazards which appear from nowhere, and leaping over the quicksand, Bob is suddenly hit on the head by a falling boot.

This is exactly what he's been waiting for, and thus armed he can temple (?) and discover its secret. I bet you just can't wait.

Compared to other combat simulations with the same price tag, such as System 3's Last Ninja and Bangkok Knights, the drab scenery, comical animation and ludicrous gameplay of Bob Winner are laughable. Nor are its inadequacies redeemed by challenging fight sequences; Bob's nine lives should be more than sufficient for anyone who's adept at this kind of thing.

One final gripe: the back-cover blurb describes this farrago of a game as 'brilliant', boasting of 'a new generation of graphics' and 'lots and lots of music'. Even allowing for the usual exaggeration this is going too far, especially as the only music seems to be that accompanying the title screen.

If ever a game was clearly destined for instant oblivion, then this is it.