Joe Blade 2

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Joe Blade 2 is the second installment in the Joe Blade series. On the first Joe Blade title we controlled a lone commando sent into an evil mastermind's complex to set a number of diplomats free from villains that resemble Nazi troops! In Joe Blade 2, your quest starts on a crime-ridden city where muggers rule the streets. This time, instead of being a commando, Blade is a vigilante sent to the city to clear the streets from criminals and rescue a number of pensioners on the way. There are no guns here, rather than jumping over villains and dispatch them with your...feet! Oh I almost forgot: the innocent citizens must be rescued within 60 seconds or the game is over! The overall gameplay is not something to remember, since it's limited enough but still the Joe Blade series deserve to give them a try.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The BBC Micro version has beautiful visuals and although I like the way the street landscapes and the sprites are depicted, the game uses just a couple of colors (much like the ZX Spectrum) while the CPC, C64 and Atari XE/XL versions are more colorful. For a strange reason, the screen coloring varies from full yellow to green or blue etc! Again, the level detail looks good and the sprites move nicely. The sound is poor though, with only a few, simple sound effects an not a single music tune either on the main menu or during gameplay.