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Although War Zone claims a futuristic setting (1999, to be exact) its initial jungle setting and Commando-style gameplay make it a more or less timeless shoot-'em-up. And, like all games of this type, it can be played alone, but is best enjoyed when two players team up for a blast.

As the story goes, you and your partner have been detailed to lead a counter-invasion force to push back an enemy which has landed at eight strategic points in your country. However, the rest of your crew has been killed or captured, so now it's up to you.

Your prime directive is to shoot your way through eight levels of scrolling action for a date with the end-of-level guardian of each, be it a tank, helicopter, submarine or some other piece of military hardware. However, along the way it would be nice if you could free the rest of your unit - oh, and have a little fun!

The idea of having two heavily-armed macho men running around causing havoc is nothing new - but for some reason it usually provides excellent blasting action... War Zone is happy to continue in this tradition. Although the graphics are possibly a little too 'cartoony' for the subject matter, the artist has made good use of colour, and that, combined with the clever animation of the heroes' sprites gives the whole thing a nice 'clean' look.

Clean is hardly a word that could be applied to the sound effects though - they're as dirty as they need to be in game with this much violence - and well varied too, to match the different weapons. And speaking of the weapons... this is where War Zone comes into its own.

There are plenty of pick-ups available throughout the jungle, so there's no need to worry too much about losing one - and there's such a variety between the different guns, cannons, flamethrowers and other 'dealers of death' that every player is bound to find a particular favourite (check out those homing missiles!).

The different capabilities of, say, the laser and the grenade launcher also add to the strategic feel of the whole affair: when disposing of some of the tougher enemies, it's often half the battle working out which weapons to attack with. Finally, the stunning smart-bomb effect is enough to round it all off. You may think that there are enough games of this type about already (and you may even be right) - and, in truth, War Zone offers very little variation on the theme.

However, if you haven't already got a game of this type, or so, but still fancy trying another. War Zone's combination of 'you watch my back and I'll watch yours' strategy and all-out action may be just the ticket.