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Originally a coin-op and console adventure, Dyna Blaster has finally made it onto your ST and looks set to become one of the biggest games of 1993. Why's that, then? Well...

The idea behind the game is that you charge around, destroying various monsters by strategically placing bombs in their path and then hiding behind walls so you don't get blown up yourself. Once you have rid a level of all its baddies, you then have to blow up the walls to find the flashing blue exit door and any bonuses that may be lying around. The bonuses enable you to control the way a bomb is detonated, give you extra lives or the ability to pass through walls.

Behind Dyna Blaster's deceptively simple concept is a furiously paced and extremely addictive blow-'em-up that's going to have you propping up your eyelids with matchsticks just to see if you can get to that next level. The levels get progressively harder as you have to tackle more monsters and you are given less and less time to complete each screen. Fortunately, you are given three lives and three continues - giving you, in effect, nine lives - so you have plenty of opportunity to blast the hell out of everything on-screen.

In single-player mode the game is really rather good, but when you realise up to four of your mates can have a go as well, you know you're in for some serious fun. The sight of five of you charging about the same screen, blowing up baddies, collecting the bonuses and trying to destroy each other just has to be experienced. If that's not enough for you, then just try treading on the Skull icon - this has unpredictable effects from making you move faster or slower to making your explosions very small. You can also pass on the effects to other players by running into them. Whether you're in single or multi-player mode, you have to plug your joysticks into an adaptor that's supplied which plugs into your ST's parallel port.

The graphics are nothing out of the ordinary, although the sprites are well-animated and have that certain endearing, cutesy quality that's likely to keep you coming back for more. Gameplay could be better - it can be jerky and unresponsive. Despite this, Dyna Blaster is a joy to play.

Dyna Blaster is a top-notch arcade adventure which is very addictive, incredibly frustrating and fantastic fun to play - with five players it's sheer mayhem. This is a game to keep coming back to time and again. Virtually a classic already.

Brilliant arcade adventure with cutesy graphics. Astounding multi-player game.

Control is a bit jerky but you soon get used to it.