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The man in the hat is back, and this time he's brought... one of our reviewers. Is Rick Dangerous II really better than the original? Read on, and find out how dangerous this man really is... Can Rick save the world again or will he just go home and have a cup of tea?

Mere superheroes are no match for the modest guy with the blond quiff and stumpy stride, who, several times since last Tuesday, has single-handedly fought off the world's baddies and still had time for hot chocolate afterwards - Rick Dangerous!

This time though, Ricky-babes may need some help from you. His old nemesis, the Fat Man, has declared an intention to invade Earth. However, luckily for the Earth, Rick's taking a stroll through London's Hyde Park at the precise moment the aliens land. Rick scampers over to the craft (armed only with a few bombs and a ray gun he happens to be carrying) and sneaks on board.

From this moment on his destiny is in your hands, so don't drop it. Guide him to the spacecraft control centre and he can hot-wire it and set its course for the planet Barf, home of the invading extra-terrestrials. After that, anything can happen.

Rick Dangerous II is definitely an improvement over its predecessor. For a start, this game has five levels whereas the first game had only four. But, more importantly, you can access any of the first four levels from the start. And there's always more than one way to finish each level, so you wipe out most of the frustration that Rick I caused people to suffer.

On-screen presentation is impressive: backgrounds are well detailed and the sprites are so cute it seems a shame to zap them. It's a dirty job but... Gameplay remains much the same throughout, but all the levels are subtly different and pose new challenges, such as sliding floors, artificial gravity and mud-traps. Rick Dangerous II is polished and it's playable - but, above all else, it's dangerous.

Rick Dangerous 1 was inspired by the cliff-hanger spirit of films like Raiders Of The Lost Ark and that it was time something was done about that. The team at Core also wanted to do a good platform game. The two ideas came together and Rick was born. Rick is a classic hero, so he can assume any guise his creators want, which is why he's more like Buck Rogers than Indiana Jones in Rick II.

Rick I had 125 screens and took four months to program, as opposed to 160 screens and six months for Rick II (16-bit versions). Rick II has twice the number of sprite and background definitions, not to mention more control options. Will there be a Rick Dangerous III? No-one knows but the programming team still have lots of ideas they'd like to use. If there is one, it definitely won't be a shoot-'em-up. Though where Rick might turn up next time is anyone's guess.

The programming team are: Dave Pridmore (Z80 versions and control routine design), John Kirkland (PC versions), Bob Churchill (screen and game design), Chris Long (C64 version and game design), Simon Phipps (game design, 16-bit versions, sprites, title graphics) and Terry Lloyd (game design and background graphics design).

1. Excellent platform game
2. You can start on any of the first four levels
3. More than one way to complete each level
4. Cute cartoon-quality characters
5. Good collision detection
6. Plenty of puzzles to solve and traps to avoid
7. Occasional hints to tell you what to do
8. Bonus rooms packed full of extra equipment
9. Polished (and sometimes silly!) sound effects, accompanied by a few neat ditties
10. You're not always sent back to the start when you die

1. Too much 'learning from mistakes'