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Doncha just love 'em. All that fur and the little head peeking out between leathery wings. How do they get that one in the Fruit Gums advert to nod and stuff? [Now that isn't what it's about, is it? - Ed] Well, nope. Ubisoft's B.A.T. plunges you into the Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters - a top-secret organisation whose daring interstellar operatives are assigned missions of the planet-saving variety.

The culprit in this case is a wanted criminal, a seriously unstable mega-nasty by the name of Vrangor. He's delivered an ultimatum to the collected governments of the galaxy that they've got ten days to evacuate the planet of Selenia's inhabitants before he plays interstellar 8-ball with the place. A very nasty opponent.

However, one of the perks of your job is having access to some nifty weaponry, from a laser gun the size of a ballpoint pen to the over-the-top Nova gun. Then there's BOB, your biological computer, with features like a translator for the robots and aliens who live in Terapolis, Selenia's major city, and the choice of either going into hibernation (if you've had a tough day) or kick your metabolism into overdrive (to give you an edge in a fight. It's impressive stuff. You can't even pick up kit like that from Do It All.

B.A.T. has little in common with other role-playing games. You wander around the shadowy streets and low-life hovels of the 22nd Century through a series of static screens. When you move from one location to another, the first stays on-screen but makes room for the second and so on, until there's no more room. It's confusing until you get used to it, partly because this method of moving around makes it difficult to maintain a sense of direction.

This character of yours needs to eat, drink and rest. If he burns the candle at both ends, you get warning messages and it's worth paying attention to them. If the last snack bar you passed is now on the other side of the city, it's possible to drop dead of malnutrition before you get back to it (even assuming you can remember the way). In B.A.T., you don't know where your next meal's coming from.

Combat is something else you ought to avoid. It's a straight shoot-out which you almost always lose (and if you don't, you'll still have the cops on your back for the rest of the game).

Where B.A.T. falls completely flat is in the inordinate amount of time it takes to progress from one action to the next (thanks to a disk access every move!) which makes it too tedious to be much fun. B.A.T.'s got style but it's difficult to get into and runs about as fast as an anaesthetised snail.

1. Very original game with an unusual presentation makes it unlike anything else available.
2. Cursor system works well.
3. Lots of wild 'n wacky scenes give your imagination a boost.
4. Design your own character.
5. The open-ended game system gives you freedom to explore.
6. The manual is full of colourful background information.

1. A disk access every move makes the game hideously slow to play.
2. Visually un-exciting: the screens are just there for decoration.
3. The flick screen movement makes it easy to get lost.
4. Playing a game like this against a time limit is a batty idea (sorry)
5. The instructions are badly explained.