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It's back to the future in this all-action driving game for the Nintendo. Set in a period of lawlessness and anarchy (sounds good to us!), you must complete fifty levels of driving to get to Sunset Strip.

Of course this is not as easy as a trip down to your local Tesco. There are other cars on the road intent on putting an end to your jaunt, to say nothing of the mines, toxic waste, and gun emplacements who would just love to ruin your day [Sounds like Southend seafront to me - Ed].

Despite all this, fuel is your biggest worry: it decreases at a frightening speed and can only be replaced in two ways: complete half or all of the level, for which you are rewarded extra fuel, or collect the fuel pods that periodically appear - and seem to be moving at 150mph!

A helicopter flies over at the beginning of each level and delivers special goodies such as nitro boost and even cruise missiles. These make life easier, but it's a long hault through the barren wasteland, and you need all your skills to succeed!

1. Nitro Inject Boosts your top speed up to 298mph for a short while. You get three of these at a time.
2. Cruise Missile Total destruction of everything on the screen, but be careful 'cos this includes fuel globes as well!
3. Electro Shield Makes you invulnerable for a time. Well 'ard!
4. Uz Cannon Rapid-fire shots are yours courtesy of this baby. Let 'em have

It's possible to boost your score to undreamed-of totals. If you destroy an enemy vehicle with one shot, your score multiplier goes up by one, to a maximum of ten.

This means at maximum multiplier you get ten times the normal score for anything you hit! However, each shot that misses a target reduces the multiplier by one - puts the pressure on, eh?

Gosh, what a lot of careless drivers! Everyone's determined to ruin your Sunday out. Here's a selection...

1. Stingers The stndard orange cars. They get in your way and try to make you crash. The answer? A shot up the botty!
2. Cycles These really are a pain as they dodge around the road at high speed. Bend their chassis with firepower.
3. Mines Cunningly similar to fuel pods, these cause instant death. Sharp driving gets you past.
4. Toxic Spills Make you spin round on the road, and possibly crash into other vehicles. Avoid if possible!

I was addicted to this game at first, but I must admit the interest is wearing off now. The basic idea is great, and lots of fun, but having fifty levels is not very exciting when they're all pretty much the same.

It's all very easy, but if you're new to games, and speed and shooting is your thing, you might find this fun - it gives an excellent feeling of speed. Anyone else, however, should heed the words of ancient Peruvian saying: try before you buy!

I liked arcade Road Blasters a lot, but I'm afraid this Nintendo conversion is a b-i-g disappointment. It looks like Road Blasters (albeit with very fuzzy graphics), and it even sounds like Road Blasters (but without the speech).

But it certainly doesn't play like Road Blasters. The original coin-op was challenging and addictive - this version certainly isn't. It's incredibly easy, and I finished the game on my second go with over 1,500,000 points!

And once you've completed the game, there's nothing to draw you back to it.

Presentation 75%
Not too wonderful, but the level select screen is rather flash.

Graphics 3%
The impression of speed is great, although the backgrounds and sprites are dull.

Sound 71%
Mainly sound effects, but not bad.

Playability 68%
Very easy - almost too easy! - to get into and play. It also suffers from dodgy collision detection and rather samey levels.

Lastability 41%
It only takes a few sessions to finish the game completely, and once you've done that it quickly becomes boring and dull.

Overall 47%
A run-of-the-mill conversion let down terribly because of the lack of variety and challenge.