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In an ambitious raid, a group of dangerous terrorists led by the infamous Crax Bloodfinger has kidnapped six of the world's leaders. A 30 billion dollars ransom is being asked for their safe release - and if it isn't paid they will all be killed.

The governments of the world have refused to pay and, as the deadline draws closer they have decided to take the only course of action left open to them - send in Joe Blade.

You play the part of Joe and armed only with a light semi-automatic machine gun you must infiltrate Bloodfinger's massive fortified HQ in a central American country.

The base is heavily guarded by Bloodfinger's private army and underground henchmen. As you traverse the corridors, any contact with them will drain your strength until you eventually die.

Also located within the stronghold, in random locations, are six booby-trapped explosives, all of which must be armed. When this has been done, you will have twenty minutes before they detonate to find all the hostages and reach the exit.

To arm the explosives you must rearrange the access codes into alphabetical order using left, right and fire on your joystick to swap the letters. If you don't do this correctly they will detonate and kill you.

You will also find uniforms, ammunition and food scattering around the garrison.

When you eat the food you will find your strength rating will go back up to full. A uniform allows you to walk among the enemy troops without being drained of strength and the ammunition will replenish your limited arsenal.

The main action takes place within a scrolling window in the centre of the screen. At the bottom, reading from left to right, are indicators for men remaining, keys collected, bombs armed and the amount of ammunition you have left.

In addition is the time remaining indicator - which registers when all bombs are armed - and your overall score. At the top of the screen, a bar indicates how much strength you have left - when it reaches zero, you are dead.

The graphics are brilliant and the sound effects - what there are of them - are excellent.

I particularly liked the ricochet of bullets you hear when you return to the main menu screen.

I first saw Joe Blade on the ST and thoroughly enjoyed playing it. Now it has been released for the 8 bit Atari and is just as playable - and an absolute bargain at £1.99. Go out and buy it straight away - you won't regret it.