Was yours Eagle-Eyed? Or was he in the Red Devils parachute team? Did you have the jeep? Oh for the youthful high jinks that was Action Man. And now he's gone digital.
Steve Bradley

I had one. I fact, I had two.
A posh kid, eh? Girls had Barbie, boys had Action Man. Indeed, they still do. After the frankly unbeatable Hot Wheels, Action Man was the young gentleman's recreational plastic thing of choice in the 1970s. Action Man even has a book devoted to him and it's a fantastic read. Okay, not fantastic, but the pictures are good.

So it's a game, then...
Indeed, and a strange one at that. It starts off like Grand Theft Auto and then turns into an adventure game.

Like GTA? How so?
You're detailed to go and shoot down cars and collect 'power points'. The mission briefing is both sonic and text-based and is fairly simple to follow. The car is viewed-from-above (it does actually look like GTA) and on-screen arrows point to where you're supposed to be headed. Action Man has his own garage where he keeps a silver sports car, a motorbike and a four-wheel drive jeep. Basically, you hurtle around a city in the sports car, unloading the contents of your bumper-mounted machine gun. Some of the 'power points' you have to collect are accessible only on the bike, so you must scoot back to the garage and swap over.

Um, silly question - is this a kids' game?
Well, toymaker Hasbro are the publishers, and yes, it may have distinctly youthful leanings. But that's not to say older folk won't come over all misty eyed at the thought of Action Man.