When I was a nipper, if I hadn't misbehaved, I was occasionally allowed to stay up past my bedtime to watch Starsky And Hutch. This was '70s suburban England and in my house this was a cultural revolution. I'd normally have to fight my corner just to get a glimpse of the Daleks, never mind the gritty mean streets of urban America. Not that I understood much of what was going on. The pimps and hustlers that seemed to litter every downtown street corner could easily have been mates of Big Bird and his Sesame Street gang, such was their over-the-top lurid outfits.

Many of the characters in the show talked funny, walked funny, and had pretty weird names such as Huggy Bear (who, to my surprise, didn't look anything like Fozzy from The Muppets). The real attraction was that cool red car and those two smart-mouthed detectives who kept sliding across its bonnet in bell-bottom flares to the sound of wah-wah pedals squelching out funky tunes. But memory lane can go on forever - it's time to decide if '70s icons can cut it on next-gen consoles, and what better way to put it to the test than courtesy of Messrs Starsky and Hutch.

If you're old enough to remember the wise-crackin' crime-fighting duo, then you're certainly old enough to remember a classic arcade game called Chase HQ. It involved a series of police chases where you relentlessly pursue the baddies and run them off the road. It spawned a lesser-known sequel called Special Criminal Investigation where, at the touch of a button, a guy would climb out of a window and fire a gun at the intended target. It's from this type of game that Starsky And Hutch largely draws its inspiration.

The title is a driving/shooting game in which you and your trusty partner take to the mean streets of San Francisco to deliver your own brand of justice to all manner of car-loving villains. Law and order in the world of Starsky And Hutch normally involves shooting or ramming the target cars until they come to a grinding halt. But it's not as simple as just making sure the opposing cars don't pass their next MOT - the game is based as much on viewer ratings as it is on inflicting maximum vehicle damage.

The game views itself as an extension of the Starsky And Hutch TV show with the bulk of the missions taking place in Story mode. Each level represents an episode, with six episodes spread over three seasons. How well you do is entirely based on your Viewer Rating, which acts as both a countdown clock and a threshold to all the unlockable goodies.

Your viewer rating is affected in a variety of different ways. Shooting the bad guys is always a good option but you can also attempt cool stunts, shoot exploding barrels, drive through boxes, pull off long skids, drive on two wheels... basically anything that would be deemed exciting in order to keep the TV-loving public watching. If you get shot yourself, or run over a civilian, the viewers switch off... which would never happen in real life.

You'll be able to plough through each episode as long as you bring the runaway bad guys to a halt, but you won't be able to progress through to the other main Season stages until your Viewer Rating warrants enough gold badges (medals) to continue. This means that you'll play stages repeatedly to find ways to give you that valuable extra 50 viewer points and adds a precious drop of longevity in a title where the gameplay doesn't stray much from the first episode.

The city is littered with more power-ups than a Mario Kart track and you will spend as much time shooting icons as you will shooting the target car. You'll also get the chance to execute special events, which are generally automated sequences that are activated after you either drive through or shoot at a relevant icon - good for upping your vital Viewer Rating.

Handling is a doddle - at least with a single player using a controller. Aiming is based on a reticule that decreases in size and changes colour when you're guaranteed a decent shot. This is handy but it does make it a bit railed as you're not really free to target and shoot where you please.

The duo's beloved Zebrathree car behaves in a typical arcade driving fashion, so brace yourself for plenty of dashboard-grabbing handbrake turns and suspension that's more springloaded than a Magnum with a hair trigger. If you have wealthy mates, you can set up a driving/shooting combo team with one using a steering wheel and the other using a lightgun. We had mixed results with this - the steering seemed so light we were driving using two fingers (and not the way Max uses two fingers when behind the wheel) and the gun needed recalibration after playing through each stage. This may be a hardware issue on our side but it's still worth noting.

Starsky And Hutch is certainly a very entertaining title - there's no denying it's great fun to peg it through a narrow litter-strewn alley in hot pursuit of a bad guy, and jumping over ramps and blowing up barrels is always a laugh... but it's only going to take you so far. The episodes get repetitive quickly because, no matter how many unlockables there are, it'll never disguise the very one-dimensional style of gameplay on offer.

Power
Loading takes a while and the graphics are adequate but really not much more.

Style
Not dripping in as much 70 nostalgia as you would imagine but stylised all the same.

Immersion
The interesting game design means you'll be replaying to unlock challenges. Maybe.

Lifespan
Entertaining in small doses but it's all very similar and starts to get boring after a while.

Summary
If you enjoy arcade racers and want to mix it up with bullets, this could be worth a punt. It won't last forever, though.

1. It is Starsky And Hutch!
2. Easy to play with good control
3. Lots to unlock and interesting modes
4. Buddy up with a lightgun and wheel

1. Repetitive gameplay
2. Could look better