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Having suffered defeat at the hands of the original Hiro (the last of the Blade Knights) Havok retreated to a volcanic island, far from the city of Thraxx, to lick his wounds. In his absence, the city picked itself up and flourished once more.

But evil prevails, and now - two centuries after - Havok is back, more deadly than before. Once again Thraxx has fallen foul of his vileness, and once again the ancient Fire Blade has been shattered and spread across the land.

All is not lost though, as Hiro's descendant has taken up the challenge. And this time the fight's moving out of the city...

Although this is undoubtedly the follow-up to Switchblade, it actually owes more in style to Capcom's Strider - even the slashing blade seems to have come from that classic coin-op. The good news though, is that enough of the feel of Simon Phipps' original has been kept to make Switchblade 2 an enjoyable blast in its own right.

Most of the changes which have been made along the way are pretty much for the better: the main sprites are larger, the levels are bigger and the extra weapons wrap the whole package up nicely. Part of the reason why the sequel is so enjoyable is the meticulous attention to detail that's been put into everything from the backdrops to the control method. Also, some of the on-screen effects are stunning: good examples are the running water by the docks and the animation displayed by some of the larger aliens.

This is a genuine pleasure to play and a challenge to complete - and, while the sudden jump from action/exploration game to arcade/platform action might deter a few players at first, it shouldn't be too long before its individual merits shine through. Switchblade 2 is up against some tough competition just now (mainly from Turrican 2 and Gods), but even in this company it still has plenty to offer.

The Amiga's 32 colours have been whittled down to 16, but otherwise nothing has been slashed from the finished product.

Put those knives away MS-Dossers - just as was the case with the original, there are no plans for a version of Switchblade 2 for your machine.