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The idea in Bug Bomber is that you are set inside a computer, so the bugs you're bombing are actually computer ones, instead of the squishy kind you sometimes tread on when wandering around outside. There are over fifty single screen levels (although each one looks almost exactly the same as the last).

You play a little character who lives in a maze. He must belt around, killing the bugs' eggs before they hatch. Not easy, because there are walls everywhere, and they hatch pretty damn fast. Anyway, you kill the eggs by placing bombs next to them. But if some do hatch, you have to use other methods to get rid of the creatures that come out. So it's lucky that you've got thunderbolts, mines and robots which you can call up.

Each time you build a wall, use a weapon or construct a robot to send against the bugs, it costs a certain number of energy points. You start off with 100 of these, but you can soon use them all up, so you'll have to go searching for more around the level.

As well as energy, you need IQ points. These determine how intelligent the robots you create will be. So, just rush around and collect all the points, energy or IQ you can.

The fun really starts when you have to deal with loads of enemy robots. The simplest answer is to tempt them over to one side of the maze and wall them in. But you still have to kill them. Do you let them out and drive them over a load of mines you've planted? Or do you try and blast them from a distance with your thunderbolt-firer? Or, if you have the points to spare, you could even build an army of rock-hard robots to deal with the baddies.

The game is really flexible. Everyone has their own playing style, and there are loads of ways to try and win. One of Bug Bomber's best features is that four players can take part in each game. Two will need to operate on each end of the keyboard, but it's not too cumbersome and is great fun. Instead of just taking out the computer's droids, you have to beat each human and their related droids. It's a tough proposition, and the infighting, backstabbing and blowings up between the players are nothing short of excellent.

There are fifty levels of this carnage, remember, but they're all pretty similar; the game just gets harder and more frantic the further you go on. It would've been nice to see variation in the maps, but as you blow up the bits in your way and leave those that are helpful, it doesn't really matter.

In fact, you can think of each screen as a sort of chessboard on which you plot your moves, create your pieces and lay your bombs and mines.

Bug Bomber is a superb game. It's quick, lively and although all the sprites are small, they're well animated and move around nicely. You have to keep an eye on where every droid is moving, and you have also got to watch against running over any enemy mines, or even your own bombs.

Tricky indeed, but, as I say, it is really the most excellent fun. And the absolute best thing is that you can play against up to three other players. Hooray (as we said in the CF office).

1. Each screen is similar to the last.
2. And some screens are just much too easy to beat.

1. There's loads of things you can do, like building, blowing up, and creating armies.
2. It all happens with a decent amount of speed, too.
3. All the selections are made using the joystick (in one or two player mode, at least).
4. The option to have up to four humans playing is brill.
5. Graphics and sound aren't bad - they're certainly up to the task.
6. The little characters are pretty cute as well.
7. It's as addictive as a bag of incredibly addictive things!