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Somewhat belatedly, Firebird have decided that what the world is holding its breath for is an update of the mighty Way Of The Exploding Fist.

That puts them in the somewhat ironic position of trailing behind IK+, the System 3 game which originally cloned the Melbourne House original. Now the clone chain comes full circle with Firebird slavishly following Archer Maclean with a three man free-for-all and extra bonus levels.

The game begins with three fighters standing before an uptown neon-lit street corner sorting out their differences. The idea is simply to qualify for each successive round (there are ten) by not being eliminated by the other kung-fuists.

You can do this by scoring points for landing blows on either of the opponents. An accurate shot will gain two points if you land it on a head or the body, whilst a half contact to these spots or a leg hit gets one point. Illuminate all five lights and you'll qualify for the next bout. There's also a time limit and if you stay ahead then you'll qualify that way. Each bout gets tougher and tougher.

Successive rounds are followed by a bonus level in which you face hordes of ninjas climbing over a wall armed only with poisonous darts. Hit them before they reach you and you'll rack up a large bonus, but sooner or later they'll overwhelm you.

In terms of animation, little has changed from the original. There are a couple of new moves including a neatly executed cartwheel, and a rib-tickling elbow. But where Fist+ disappoints is in the saminess of the gameplay and the unchanging backgrounds. Where IK+ took the original theme and developed it with brilliant graphics and extra speed, this remains rooted to the old format.

Beam Software, who wrote the original, really haven't stretched themselves this time. Even the sound has no new effects, whilst the tune is actually considerably worse.

I can't see Fist+ setting the software world alight with clones and a new eagerness to play anything classed as a beat-'em-up like its original did. After all, we've moved on since them. Ahem.