Playing Fireball II is like rediscovering your favourite toy which you thought had been thrown out years ago. As the name implies, Fireball II is the direct descendent of Fireball I, the first Arc Breakout clone in 1988. In case you'd forgotten that, Fireball I is included free on the disc.

Just like its predecessor, you have to hit the bricks using a bat and ball. Boring, right? Wrong. When I played this game I didn't have time to be bored because I was too busy dodging bombs and aiming lasers among other things. There are about six different types of 'special' brick, each with its own nasty characteristic. Some drop lethal bombs when struck, others disappear then reappear five seconds later.

They are coloured (or not if they are invisible) and textured differently, so identification is easy. Also falling at random from any assaulted bricks are little capsules which endow the bat with special powers like bomb protection or lasers. There are loads of screens, increasing in difficulty as you progress.

By far the best feature of this game is the screen editor. This allows you to create your own screens using a cursor and the different types of brick, which is great fun. Also, using the editor you can rearrange the screens, putting the difficult ones first so you don't have to go through the tediousness of clearing the easiest.

The graphics are adequate, if a bit quaint, and there's definitely nothing flash here. The only gripe on this front is that whenever the screen is cleared the sides roll in, then out again revealing the new screen. Very nice for the first hour, but you'll be cursing it soon after that.

The sound is one aspect which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand you have some excellent sampling, really good, and on the other you've got some annoying music.

This is the kind of game that anyone can play, guaranteed to be a hit with even non-computer crazy friends.