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It all started with Bounder, you see. That was way back in the mists of time, the dawn of creation, early 1985 if I'm not mistaken. That was when it all began for me. I was well impressed with Bounder.

What I'm getting at here (actually, I'm not all that sure myself) is that, on the whole, Gremlin produce some pretty whacko stuff, but what's all this Re-Bounder, Bounder II - the sequel business, normally trotted out by less right-on software houses with little imagination and less scruples. As in "let's dig out that one that did a bomb a couple of years back, everyone will have forgotten about it by now. We can hack the code about, bung a few new sprites in here and there, change the packaging, double the price and buy the marketing manager a new car".

To be fair to Gremlin, Re-Bounder is a good game and whilst it doesn't differ enough from its predecessor to justify going out and buying it second time around, if you missed out the first time now's your chance.

For the benefit of those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, Bounder and Re-Bounder are a bit, well, odd. You control this tennis ball that bounces up and down. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of to start with because you're looking at the thing from above, a bird's eye view.

So this ball's bouncing away like crazy, and the next thing is the landscape starts to scroll away underneath it. The landscape is made up of tiles, only in places there are no tiles, so you have to guide the ball so as it lands in the right places.

There are different kinds of tile and some are better for landing on than others. Grey tiles are safe enough and tiles with exclamation marks on gain you extra points. Question marks are less straightforward, if they turn into a smiling face when you land on them, good news; frowning faces are not so hot.

Two kinds of tile which will give you an added bounce are the ones with arrows on, which enable you to jump further, and pump station tiles. These allow you to pump up your ball with a five second waggle on the joystick. Smart bombs can be found lying on some of the tiles, and you must collect sixteen of these to defeat the overlord at the end of the game.

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about the plot. Some nonsense about an overload turning you into a tennis ball and you getting revenge. Why can't they just say "this is a game where you control a bouncing tennis ball, it's good fun and you don't have to read a load of old cobblers about overlords at the evil warriors before playing it"?

As well as the dodgy tiles, there are aliens about, which you must shoot as quickly and accurately as you can, any contact with these means drastic energy loss, or worse still, instant death - fortunately you are endowed with five balls - at least to begin with. You'll need every one of them too. For the first half hour, trying to shoot aliens and look where you're going at the same time proves to be almost physically impossible.

There are many levels to the game. No, I don't know how many. Why not? Because I didn't finish it. What do you want, blood? I know there are some cheat modes, it says so on the start screen. The infuriating thing is they're probably the same, or similar to those for Bounder, which I once knew but have now forgotten.

The verdict? OK, maybe I was a bit heavy with the 'Gremlin rip-off angle'. Like I said, it's a good game if you didn't catch it first time. One other thing I ought to add is that, where games of this type are concerned I still don't think there's anything to touch Trailblazer, which, funnily enough, is also by Gremlin.