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The problem with licensing deals is that they are worked out so far in advance that nobody knows whether the original film is going to be a success. Electric Dreams seems to be buying film licences in job lots and Aliens was certainly a winner. Big Trouble In Little China, however, was released and disappeared without trace. Given that there aren't too many people who will be reliving the film through the game, Big Trouble In Little China has to stand entirely on its own merits. Unfortunately the game is little more than a run of the mill, kung-fu game with three characters with various combat skills making their way through four levels of action and beneath the streets of Chinatown, to rescue their girlfriends from the clutches of Mandarin Lo Pan.

Each of the three characters are specialists. Jack Burton is a marksman and there is a gun to be found once you've penetrated into the game. Wang Chi is a karate expert and skilled at sword play. Egg Shen is the most bizarre character as he flies around on a cloud hurling thunderbolts. As you progress through the levels you are confronted with both humans and monsters to defeat. You can switch control between characters very easily but as they are not independent characters and do nothing while they are uncontrolled, it seems an option whose potential is wasted.

The action simply scrolls from right to left and the same scenery tends to crop up regularly giving the impression you are just going round in circles. The game action is not particularly compelling and the fight sequences are no more than average. Although there is nothing glaringly bad about Big Trouble, there is nothing new or exciting either to set it apart from the general run of releases.