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If you crossed Manic Miner with The Way of the Exploding Fist you would probably end up with something like Bruce Lee. You take on the role of the famous Kung Fu master who has to enter the castle and defeat the evil wizard.

The castle is divided up into various subsections and it is necessary for you to collect hanging lanterns within each section to open up a door which will allow you to continue. Two Japanese warriors defend the castle, the black Ninja and the green Yamo. The Ninja is an agile fighter who moves fast and will hit you with a sword. Yamo is a lumbering sumo wrestler, he is much stronger that the Ninja and so best avoided. In the two player mode one of the players adopts the persona of Bruce Lee and the other of the Green Yamo, every time Bruce Lee gets killed the roles swap.

Inside the castle there is a variety of hazards. Deadly bolts fly across gaps and electrified floors have to be crossed. These hazards will kill both you and your assailants as they pursue you through the castle. Several rooms contain mines which explode just after you tread on them. If you run over a mine while you are being chased your foe will be killed by the mine. In addition to the ladders and platforms within the game there are magic waterfalls, These move up and down, allowing you to hitch a lift.

The best form of defence is attack, you are armed with deadly fists and feet, it only takes a couple of flying kicks to flatten the Ninja, each blow you land on a foe scores valuable points, Bruce Lee can be played on two levels. You can either play for points, fighting it out on the surface against Ninja and Yamo or you can play for rooms. Each room is well designed and takes a little while to crack, some need pixel accuracy and split second timing, some just need quick wits. I found the electrified floors to be the greatest hazard.

Bruce Lee is a US Gold game, and, like most of the US Gold games, started life on Atari and Commodore 64 computers. This was one of my favourite games on the other machines so I approached the conversion with trepidation. Games which have been converted usually lose something in translation, I was delighted to find that the game had improved. The Amstrad version of Bruce Lee has fewer bugs than Commodore 64 Bruce Lee and plays just as well.

One small bug [Feature - Ed] is that a sharp kick from the Green Yamo can push you through a wall. If this happens in the fourth room, as it did to me, you circumvent a substantial part of the maze. A more major bug gave me 98 lives. I wouldn't complain but I've been unable to repeat the feat. It is possible for you to get through a wall by simply going to one side and ducking down.

The game can be played by either one or two players either against each other or against the computer. There are joystick and keyboard options, they keyboard being a little easier to use. When two people are playing you use both keyboard and joystick. The sound is very disappointing with rather tame crunches and thuds from your hitting out and no sound at all from your assaulted foe. The best. noise is made as you run along the floor [If your feet smell and your nose runs then you are made upside down - Ed].

As I have said before, the Amstrad version is very close to the Commodore original, this means that the mode 0 colours have not been used to full effect, the mountain backdrops are very chunky with no attempt at shading. One reason why Bruce Lee converts so well is that there is not that much moving at any one time. The characters are small and the hazards tiny, The only really large objects are the waterfalls.

If you decide to go for points by fighting it is important to avoid getting backed into a corner where Yamo will knock you down as fast as you get up. The most effective form of attack seems to be to kick, run to the opposite side of Yamo and kick again. Providing Ninja stays out of the way you should be able to rack up lots of points quickly.

There is more to a game than just good sound and graphics, as far as I am concerned playability is the most important thing and it is here that Bruce Lee wins - he certainly does in my 464.

Very addictive despite bugs.