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You've got a problem with pests, you say? Well, exterminators aren't what they used to be, at least not the kind that come from Audiogenic. Instead of a guy in a white suit carrying a backpack full of bug killer, the big A send around... Well... They send around a large floating hand. Ahem...

Prepare to enter the incredibly weird zone. I don't know what the author of this game was taking when he wrote it but you've gotta hand it to him, he certainly has a knack for the original. Read on, and ponder the mysteries of the human mind...

A small leafy suburb of Chicago is having a bit of a problem. The houses in the area have been overrun with mutant insects. In fact, the situation has become so bad that even drinks cans and children's toys have come to life and started attacking the residents. So, as they usually do in these situations they call for... The Exterminator (da da daaah!).

Now you've got to feel sorry for the poor people who live here: not only do they have to learn to cope mentally with a supernatural pest problem, but when the Exterminator turns up, blow me if he isn't just a hand. No torso, no head, no limbs, nothing. Just four fingers, a thumb and the fleshy bit that joins them all together. Still, if he can do his job properly, who's complaining?

This bizarre game places you in control of this floating mitt, with which you have to rid the suburb of insectoid marauders by grabbing and squashing them or pounding them to death with a fist. The game is played out in the rooms of the victims' houses so it's off to bug the bugs.

First, there are the flies: these do no harm at all and are positively begging to be squished in your palm. Then come the dragonflies, also harmless but far more difficult to get hold of. Next are the horse fly-type thingies who, if left uncrushed for too long, whap out their stingers. Contact with these causes your hand to throb and some life 'juice' to disappear. As the stings take their toll, a small juice meter lets you know when it's time to use another of your eight credits.

In any single room, only one type of these buzzing beasties appears but you also get to meet all sorts of random pests, such as a wasp with a powerful sting and the juice gun which flits from one side of the room to the other. By grasping the juice gun, your juice level increases; leave it alone, though, and it eventually fires its fizz at you.

That's the airborne stuff over with, now onto the floor-based attackers. Toy tanks. trundle slowly to the front of the screen, and take pot shots.

Coke cans and spiders merely plod across the floor to distract you while one of the other nasties knees you in the lifeline. And finally, here come the leaping frogs, how cute they look hopping down the screen towards you... then - CHOMP! You've been bitten by the chomping frogs of suburbia.

A large range of moves is easily carried out. This proves very handy (groan!), so you need never worry about being all fingers and thumbs (aargh!) during a game.

The eight joystick clicks move the main sprite around the screen and as soon as a pest approaches the palm of your hand, pressing fire grabs and squashes the pesky fellow. When the wasp pitches on your hand, rotating your stick frantically wafts it away giving you a minute or two before he launches another manic attack on your beleaguered pest controller. To get rid of a carpet crawler, position yourself above the tile it's approaching, pull down on the stick and press fire. This 'pounding' and proves effective against rats which leave a grey splat mark on the floor.

Finally onto 'shooting'. When moved to a far side of the screen the hand points its index finger. Pressing fire releases a volley of shots.

There are six houses in total, each containing five rooms. The aim is simply to complete each room in turn before moving onto the next house. A room is deemed to be finished with once a whole line of floor tiles has been changed to the same colour. Every time you pound or shoot or crunch an opponent, it drops to the floor and alters the colour of the tile it lands on. The next tile along then sides to the fore, so you can do it again. The trick is to concentrate your debugging efforts above a single strip of tiles while avoiding the more potent attackers.

The graphics are superb: the bugs are very buglike and nicely animated while the hand itself is beautifully presented, especially when it throbs. The backdrops too are excellently drawn. Sound is up to scratch with various spot effects and a thumping rendition of "Flight Of The Bumble Bee".

And playability? Heaps of it. Apart from the dodgy shooting, and the initial difficulty in mastering the grabbing manoeuvre it all becomes very addictive. If this is what Audiogenic can do with their first coin-op conversion, I can't wait for their next offering. Give them a big hand. [That did it - the review ends there - Ed]

1. Movement difficult initially.

1. The digitised backdrops ooze atmosphere - the overall feel is weird and wonderful.
2. The bugs are effective.
3. The hand is realistic and at times comical.
4. The moves are great, each one is well animated and serves a different purpose.
5. Each pest has a different mode of attack making the overall challenge much more varied and interesting.
6. The gradual increase of difficulty is just right, making you want to get that little bit further.
7. Buzzy soundtracks add to the panicky atmosphere.