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How do you fancy becoming a sewage pipe attendant for a day? Nor the most attractive proposition, you must admit, but if you're Floyd you've no say in the matter. Floyd's task in this game is to clean up some of me most disgusting drain systems of the world, ridding them of slime and gunge as well as the odd vicious rat, bat, 'gator, and escaped prisoner.

On loading you are presented with a short piece of animation showing Floyd wandering the streets outside Piccadilly -- notorious for it's drains y' know. Pressing the fire button takes you to the central menu, from which you can access other icon-driven menus or begin to play the game.

Playing the game sets Floyd in the London drains. Using the joystick, it is possible to guide him through a 3D view of the sewage system. When Floyd encounters some kind of sewer nasty, the display switches to a side view for a better look at the action. There are three ways to control the vermin: MANUALLY, where you can tell Floyd to move, bend, jump, and fire his laser beam via the joystick; HALF AUTOMATIC, where Floyd lakes over a lot of the work and selects the battle sequences himself; and FULLY AUTOMATIC, where Floyd really carries into his own. He deals with any opponent quickly and efficiently, and then returns you to the main menu.

You program Floyd to kill a specific opponent through use of icons -- these are called PROCEDURES. Once you have given Floyd a set of instructions there is a test facility so you can see Floyd perform his sequence of actions before returning to the game. However, you can only use these procedures in the half or fully automatic operations, not in the manual.

The nasties can be defeated in various ways, but if you are to complete the task you need to know some basic combat tactics. The bat, which inhabits most intersections, can be killed by Floyd's laser beam. The rat can be exterminated by performing a quick jump on its head, and 'gators can be dealt with in a similar manner. Apart from these nasties there is an on-the-run criminal lurking in the system, who sprays Floyd with bullets if he's not ready to deal with him. Who said cleaning sewers was boring? Not Floyd, that's for sure . . .

It sounds a fun game, but I found it somewhat tedious and lacking in action. The graphics are not bad, but they don't make up for the lack of action -- the pipes all become slightly 'samey', and without mapping it could become confusing. The icon system is simple to use, but is quite difficult to implement into the game. I have little enthusiasm for this game, but it may prove interesting if you're into robots and sewage. I can't see a great market for it.

Presentation 83%
Very good, although the icons are a bit tricky to use.

Graphics 81%
Effective and unusual 3D, and great definition and animation all round.

Sound 67%
Good speech and reasonable spot FX.

Hookability 66%
A bit confusing initially.

Lastability 60%
There's not much variety and the pace is a little too slow.

Value For Money 58%
Overpriced for what it offers.

Overall 62%
Just goes to show that not all original games are good ones.