Mogwai don't get mad, they get silly. Way back in the mists of time (1984!) the lovable rogues terrorised a town after getting wet and turning into Gremlins. Gizmo (hurrah!), the original Mogwai from whence the Gremlins sprange, has now been captured by an evil scientist (boo!) and - guess what? He's been and gawn and goat soaked once more (gasp!). The only hope is to collect the five parts of Gizmo's magic box, which could just save the day.

Now Billy (yipee!), the human hero of the first outing, has to stop the Grems overrunning a shopping mall. Using a torch (bright light!) he has to clear the place store by store. Dashing horizontally about each floor, picking up different weapons (tomatoes, frisbees and phones), he must clear a path to the next lift, leaping on desks, filing cabinets and platforms to avoid the Gremlins' attacks.

The Gremlins are wild, wicked and witty. Once they have finished ransacking the shopping mall they have masses of death-dealing tricks up their furry sleeves. Skateboarders, rocket riders, pogostickers, jetpackers and bomb throwers are just some of the creatures that are both hilarious and invariably fatal.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Sound effects rarely make a game but the Gremlins' giggles lift it gloriously. Deaths are accompanied with a growled "Bye bye, Billy!" and a chorus of evil laughter. Backing up the realistic Gremmo tittering are some brilliant Gremlin sprites, they actually look real. They move in mischievous ways, which makes up for the functional scenery, supplying an eye-catching focus for the game.

Gremlins has one major graphic fault, a flick-scroll system that irritates in the way only flick screens can. The screen can be clear of critters, with Billy one pixel away from the edge of the screen, when a Gremlin decides to bounce on. The result is a death that you could not foresee or avoid, which makes the game considerably harder and massively more frustrating.

LASTING INTEREST

Killing Gremlins is hard going. They are unpredictable little tykes who always home in on Billy. The toughness of the gameplay and the clumsiness to make collecting the five parts of Gizmo's box, each of which lives on its own level, a practical impossibility. It's fun but too frustrating, especially as they keep laughing at your every mistake!

JUDGEMENT

Spot on in both the graphic and sound departments. The Grems translate perfectly into sprites and their anarchic antics are amusing and annoying. Elite may have fallen victim to a Gremlin themselves because it's way too tough, protecting the Gremlins from Billy's bright light forever.

Gremlins, eh! What would the workman of today do without of today do without them? On diagnosing the broken washing machine... "Well madam, I reckon it's one of 'em Gremlins." And the TV repair man... "Don't titter missus but you've got a Gremlin in that there Toshiba." Well, I for one could do without them. But, no! We've had the broken ice cream car that keeps conking out (David's Triumph Herald, I believe) and then Gremlins 2, the film. Now we've got Elite's game of the same name and it's not half bad... But enough of that. First, let's get on with the business of the scenario...

Many years have passed since the cuddly Mogwai, Gizmo, got slightly moist and reproduced himself to the peaceful town of Kingston Falls. Now hero Billy and his but of fluff, Kate, are working in the Clamp Plaza complex where they discover that Gizmo has been kidnapped from the Chinese storekeeper Mr Wing and is about to be used for scientific experiments.

Billy leaves Gizmo in a drawer while he's working until Kate can come and take the little beggar home. Unfortunately though, Gizmo escapes and gets wet again (well, it wouldn't be much of a story otherwise) and his hermaphrodite carryings-on produce four more Mogwai who ram poor Giz down an air vent and embark on a journey of yet more mischief, mayhem, death and destruction.

Teresa: You begin the game by alighting from an elevator that sounds just like the lift in Star Trek (Joke © Paul Lakin 1990) - only it deposits you in the complex and not the bridge. From this point on, you've got to total the Gremlins because they'll throw everything they've got at you - literally! Armed with your standard torch, you wouldn't think it would be a problem - well it is. There are at least ten different Gremlins, each with their own characteristics - like Daffy who hurls himself in a cartwheel at you and takes three shots to wipe out, Mohawk, who pops up anywhere and hurls whatever's at hand and Pogo who bounces up and down.

Along the way you can pick up bonus icons - for example a P gives you more points, R turns Gizmo into Rambo so he shoots everything on-screen, plus there are mystery ones too. You can also pick up different weapons - from Frisbies to Boomerangs, but beware the apples - they're crap! And if you complete a level, don't forget to pick up the end-of-level bonus, you'll need them later. You can buy weapons from here using the credits collected in the form of little bubbles whenever you slaughter a Gremlin.

Gremlins 2 features five horizontally scrolling levels and they've all bloody hard. It took me to equivalent of 180 episodes of Neighbours to reach the end of level one. There's no random element in the gameplay, so it's a case of learning when and where to shoot from.

Graphically it's a stunner: each of the Gremlins is yummily animated, from the cigar-smoking George to pouting Sexy-girl and her deadly tongue sarnies. Gremlins even appear on some of the little TVs in the complex and from within Microwaves. Sound is pretty nifty - I love the Gremlins' hyena cackles and the music and sound FX aren't bad either.

It all adds up to standard shoot 'em up fare with some humorous touches and very good graphics. A witty interpretation of a film licence that's well worth a look, particularly for Gizmo (aaaaahhh!) lovers!

The original movie had to be one of the weirdest mainstream films of the Eighties, and made a pretty neat computer game from Adventuresoft (80%, Issue 2). The belated sequel had a weak plot, but spectacular FX with zillions of oddball Gremlins and ways to kill them - who can forget the 'Gremlin in the shredder' scene or Rambo Gizmo? Now as the film hits the video stores, Elite finally unleash a conversion packed the vicious little monsters.

The game is set in Clamp Tower, New York's newest and tallest skycraper, which was built on the site of the old novelty store where Gizmo's Chinese master used to live. Now deceased his furball friend has been turned over to Clamp Tower's notorious genetics department, where Dr Catheter has dozens of different experiments planned.

By coincidence Billy, who temporarily owned Gizmo in the original movie, is also working at Clamp Tower and once he finds out about Gizmo's captivity, sets out to rescue him. Catastrophe is the result, with Gizmo being sprinkled with water to create a new batch of Gremlins. Billy must save the day by combating all the new Gremlins, including pogoing, skateboarding, electric and sexy vamp types. Initially Billy is armed with a rapid-fire torch(!), but extra weapons can be picked up such as tomatoes and telephones. There are also bonus icons to pick up for extra lives, points and time, plus a Rambo Gizmo who flies in via parachute. The action is shown side-on with Billy walking through flickscreen rooms containing platforms and lifts. On each of five levels a special items must be found to complete it. An interlevel shop allows Billy to buy a new default weapon with collected credits.