It is a long, long time since the original Kik Start first peddled onto our C64s. Now, after a long painful wait, we have no, not a tandem but another sequel and thankfully at the same cheap price as the original.

For the TV-less among us, the original Kik Start was clearly inspired by a BBC2 programme of the same name. As the more astute of you may have guessed by now it is a biking programme, as is the game (although it doesn't have Peter Purvis commentating).

Biking is not really the precise word to use. Scrambling, I believe, is correct biker's terminology for those crazy suckers, who leap over ramps and basically just don't give a flying damn about getting hurt. Well not for the second time, you can be the next (armchair) Eddie Kidd.

There are two screens in the game, your one, and your opponent's. The game is looked on from the side and scrolls horizontally from left to right. You must guide your rider safely and quickly across all the obstacles using the controls to brake, speed-up, wheelie and jump a perfect combination should give you a winning time.

The obstacles come in different categories. There are the little irritating ones that must be jumped over, such as the picnic tables and little holes in the ground. There are the jumps - big (sorry, understatement!) colossal ramps which you must burn up, and gather enough speed to reach the other side and the safety of terra firma. These are often too big and too wide to be completed without the aid of a springboard. This is where timing comes in. Often there are a number of springboards located between two ramps, and you must decide which one to spring on in order to land successfully. Then there is my most hated type of obstacle, the s...l...o...w ones. There are different types of obstacles such as gates, logs and brickwork that you must go over at a snail's pace in order to complete them successfully. They make me puke!

There is one little quirk so far. You have probably noticed that in my explanation of the game so far there is hardly any difference from the first Kik Start. Not so! Apart from being faster, graphically prettier, smoother, having better sound, updated obstacles, and far more courses, there is a construction kit. Yet, it is easy to operate and even easier to ride on. I had such a scream lacing the computer on a course I'd constructed with simply one ramp. The construction set is icon-controlled, you simply work your way along the track and press the subsequent key to put an obstacle down.

Without trying to sound too much like a dog with a whopping, meaty, brand new butcher's bone, I simply cannot put this game down for too long. I do not often stick to one game for such a long period of time but this will join the land of the invincibles together with the likes of classics like International Tennis and Impossible Mission. High praise indeed.