Ever felt the need to rid the world of all the wicked baddies - you know, men who nick old ladies' handbags right through to the really unpleasant, to say the least, serial killers?

Well, now's your chance with the re-release of Hill Street Blues, a huge game set in Chicago where you get to be Captain Furillo, in control of the police force and all their associated resources like the paramedics and specially trained marksmen. You have to keep the streets clean of crime (and bodies, so don't just haphazardly shoot everyone and heop for the best) - if you make too many mistakes you're likely to find your popularity deteriorating swiftly, and you'll be out of a job.

This is actually likely to happen sooner rather than later - although you can choose from a variety of difficulty levels, this relates to the crimes committed rather than the frequency with which they occur, so you start off with muggings and bag-snatchings, rather than the heavier stuff. Time in the precinct moves much faster than it does in real life, so you're likely to find that you're overwhelmed with criminals all over the town before you've actually worked out what you're supposed to be doing. Don't panic though, take your time to remember what each of the 40-odd icons does and you can start to methodically put a stop to the crime wave.

The whole thing's controlled by the mouse and tends to be a bit slow on the uptake. Things are made even more confusing by the number of crimes committed - you need to keep a close eye on which officer you've got sorting out which offender in which bit of the town. Mental agility - or at least a pen and paper - come in very handy.

Hill Street Blues certainly has plenty of potential to keep you going for months on end - there are so many different ways you can approach the solving of a crime, not to mention mistakes that you can make, that you're bound to find something new every time you load it up. If you haven't got much patience however, and you prefer your relationship with the games you play to be based on instant attraction you might find this a tad complicated to master.

Plenty to keep you going; absorbing and detailed - a challenge!

The icons and sub-menus can get confusing.