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I blame the parents. If they'd given their kids a sharp clip round the ear and sent them up the wooden hill without their cocoa, this would never have happened. But it's too late, they got in with a bad crowd and ended up dealing hard drugs and murdering people. They call their organisation KRAK and work for a Mr. Big - a decidedly odd character for reasons which are explained later.

Your mission then is to give these naughty boys the spanking they so richly deserve in the form of an extremely violent leaden death. The gameplay is wonderfully simple: guide your NARC agent through twelve scrolling areas and shoot lots of people - hopefully before they shoot you.

The game can be played solo or in one of those pleasant co-operative, simultaneous two-player mode jobs. Both hard-men are armed with rapid-fire machine guns, with which to decimate the evil druggy forces and can walk, jump and crouch (toggled via the keyboard) whilst firing simultaneously. Each manoeuvre comes in handy at different times. Crouching is useful for disposing of the vicious Rottweilers that go for your throat and jumping helps avoid the enemy's firepower.

At the start of each level, a scanner appears showing a picture of the cad you are supposed to apprehend (from the Latin 'appre' to shoot now, and 'hend' ask questions later). This is excellently portrayed with the bad guy's mugshot materialising impressively on the screen.

Once you enter the level, a multitude of villainous-types pour onto the screen and must be wasted forthwith. It sounds simple but because of the number of opponents firing back you often get hit yourself.

When the enemies die, they release one of several items: bullets, missiles, drugs, money, arms, legs, their guts [Ah... are you sure about the last few? - Ed]. Picking up drugs and money gives you extra points but if a choice has to be made, the bullets and missiles are a must. When your bullet count gets low, you can only fire puny single shots so it's vital to keep the ammo topped up. Occasionally, the enemy drop a pass, clearly marked 'Safe' (huh?) which must be picked up in order to enter the next level.

Your mission takes you through a series of different venues, from the junk yard, through a subway station, to the drugs lab and nursery (where they grow exploding Cannabis plants!) and finally onto Mr Big's hideout itself. The backdrops are all nicely drawn and varied, but there's nothing really outstanding, visually. On the way, you meet a variety of bizarre opponents. Kinky Pinky is a knife-wielding clown, Spike Rush throws hypodermic needles, Joe Rockhead tosses boulders at you and, as if that wasn't strange enough, Mr Big first attacks you from his wheelchair then turns into a large disembodied head who coughs fire at you! These sprites are generally blocky but move quite well and have a strange appeal that's hard to pin down.

As a straightforward high speed shoot-'em-up, NARC is pretty good: a decent conversion of an average coin-op. The action is fun for a while because it's uncomplicated and fast, helped along by a racy soundtrack, but the mindless blasting grows repetitive.

NARC will sell in bucket-loads but if you prefer a more challenging blast, beware. You may find that this doesn't come up to scratch.

1. The action is a little repetitive to say the least.
2. The game lacks depth: even though you have a range of movement options, it's possible to progress without using most of them.
3. Not a very tough challenge.

1. Action is fast moving and constant - a real test of joystick waggling stamina.
2. Attractive graphics.
3. Visual features change in almost every level.
4. Main character is very agile, allowing you to whizz randomly around in a violent and enjoyable blast.
5. Always more fun to play with two.