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It had to happen, didn't it? We've been given the chance to play Ninja warriors, fighter pilots, even golf pro's. Now we can play the role of an aviator with a strange desire to career into the ground at high speed.

Kamikaze puts you behind the yoke of an old bi-plane with which you have to traverse the skies avoiding other aircraft in order to save a number of hostages from the local 'nick'. This is carried out in rather an odd way. First you must shoot down a plane that is carrying explosives. Collect said explosives by way of daring mid-air collisions and then dive-bomb the door of the prison. At this stage, ordinary mortals would be meat paste but our hero calmly frees the hostages and jumps back into his plane to take them home (gee, what a guy!).

All that remains is to pilot them safely back to the point from which you started, got it? Good, cos it's the devil's own job to achieve this without losing the three lives you're allocated at the start of the game. The enemy planes are bad enough but other obstacles include buildings, tanks which fire at you and little men with guns (some of whom fly around on jet packs - naturally!)

When you've successfully rescued the first two hostages, it's onto the next level to liberate some more. The method is just the same but the background is different and there are more enemies to kill and hostages to save.

The soundtrack on Kamikaze is excellent - a bouncy jolly jazzy ditty which will warm the cockles of even the most miserable. gamer's heart. The graphics are also sickeningly pleasant: very cartoony backgrounds with small but nicely defined sprites. Occasionally a parachutist appears and, if you blast him, his 'chute disappears leaving him comically flapping his arms in an attempt to fly, before plummeting earthward. Classic stuff.

The game also plays well but is a bit too difficult to hold your interest for long. The lack of variation between levels also calls into question the lasting appeal of the game. Still, if you rate your ability to wield the mighty joystick, give it a bash. It's the cheapest barn-stormer around.

Well, it was alright. Can't you rent this or something? No? Better try it before you splash out then.