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There's a hostage's life at stake! The Mayor's daughter has been abducted, and is currently being driven away at high speed by a gang of ruthless terrorists. They're highly volatile and mustn't be antagonised - it's a difficult diplomatic situation.

So the Special Criminal Investigation team are called in. They know just how to handle this sort of delicate situation. Diplomacy is the key. A softly-softly approach is called for. Their plan is appropriately simple but effective: run them off the road, bombard them with rockets and pin them down with gunfire.

If the plot sound familiar, then you've been playing Chase HQ. The prime difference between SCI and Chase is that you're not just limited to smashing the kidnappers off the road. No, this time you're armed, and therefore twice as dangerous.

You have 75 seconds to find and apprehend the getaway cars. Hunting them down isn't too hard. They have a head start on you, but your vehicle is equipped with five turbo boosts which help make up the ground easily. In addition, the roads have no turn-offs, and you can easily distinguish their car from the others on account of the huge flashing arrow and the word "criminal" that hovers above them.

Stopping them is a different matter. You must inflict a certain amount of damage before the escaping car finally breaks down, and this takes some doing. For most of the game your only option is a combination of shooting and ramming - till, halfway through the chase, a friendly helicopter drops a power-up weapon by parachute to help finish the job.

The other vehicles on the road aren't quite so resistant to damage. Hit them by mistake and more often than not they burst into a satisfying ball of flame. This slaughter of innocent civilians doesn't seem to have any adverse consequences (!) and is a good way to clear the road.

By contrast, the Chase-mobile seems remarkably impervious to any form of harm. Head-on collisions with other cars merely slow you down. Driving into the side of a house causes a slight loss of momentum. The worst that's likely to happen is that the car may go into a spin, losing a little time.

The scrolling is fast and smooth. It's the usual mock-3D born from the old racing games, but is very effective. All the sprites are large and well drawn - not that you have time to admire them as they thunder past. A funky soundtrack plays as you tear along the highway. Plenty of explosions and similar effects keep the sound-chip occupied too.

The difficulty level is SCI is pitched just right. It's not an easy task bringing the escaping terrorists to a halt, but it is possible. There are, however, no major improvements over Chase HQ. Sure, you can shoot now, but it makes very little difference to the gameplay. While Special Criminal Investigation is fast and fun, if you already have Chase in your collection you'd do well to think twice before splashing out.