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The most fun five people can have with a computer (Or something...).

When people talk about console-style products on the Amiga, they're usually referring to big platform games like Robocod, Harlequin or similar, but that by no means covers it all. Take Dyna Blaster/Bomberman, for instance - a cute, bright little thing with elements of PacMan, Chip's Challenge and (yes!) our very own issue one covergame Bombuzal. This started out on the PC Engine under the name Bomberman, went to the Gameboy as Dyna Blaster and has now arrived on the Amiga as a PC Engine-perfect conversion under this rather indecisive dual name.

That's not the end of the story though. Dyna Blaster/Bomberman really comes into its own with its neat five - yes, five! - player option, providing one of the neatest social computer games since, ooh, Gauntlet II. We'll get onto that in a minute, but first, the basic game.

The idea is simple. You play a little Bomberman character running around a series of mazes, many of which are but a single screen, and few of which extend to more than two. The mazes are built up of blocks, some of which are solid, and some - which tend to look like bricks or bushes - are not. These can be blown up with the bombs you carry - place your bomb on the ground, dash around a solid corner to safety, and watch as it takes out the more vulnerable bricks or one of the PacMan-like baddies who wander around the screen.

In the one player game your task is to take out all the baddies before an exit appears which throws you into the next sub-level. It's worth blowing up a few of the extra blocks before you run off though - some hide an assortment of bomb power-ups, which could prove invaluable on later levels. The whole thing is broken up into eight sections, each with its own graphic style and subdivided into eight or so screens. Occasionaly Boss screens with Volified-style snakes curling around them add variety, but that's the basic game, and as a simple one-player thing it's a whole lot of fun.

Where the game really comes into its own is with the multi-player option. Dyna Blaster/Bomberman comes with a joystick adaptor which plugs into the parallel port at the back of your Amiga and perhaps helps to explain the inflated price point. Using this, the joystick port, the mouse port and the keyboard, you can get up to five people crushed around your Amiga for a frantic multiplayer game.

It's going to be hard to impress upon you just how good this is. Not only do you have the bricks to get rid of, the power-ups to collect and the baddies to kill, you also have four other players to try and bomb out of existence. The game turns into a frantic chase around the screen, with each player desperately trying to collect the best power-ups and lay traps to blow the others to pieces, without (of course) getting himself blown to smithereens in the process. 'Killer mode' is even more exciting, with individual character speed-ups, slow downs and worse making the action more unpredictable than ever.

We've not had so much fun in ages. Excellent fun, and - despite the price - highly recommended.

Expensive but very addictive Pac-Man variant, improved dramatically by the inclusion of a joystick adaptor for five player fun. If you're in the habit of playing games with friends, it's a must buy.