VICTOR MUSICAL INDUSTRIES/ATLUS/RED

7 SEPTEMBER 1990

If you've ever had fantasies about being a bronzed barbarian warrior like Conan, travelling the lands to defeat your foes with a swift blow from your enormous weapon, then here's your chance to make them come true. Ankoku Densetsu is a platform hack and slash game, much in the vein of Rastan. You travel through various dark and gloomy settings, chopping the heads of green maggot-spitting zombies and skeleton warriors etc. There are several types of weapon to collect - the sword is standard, the axe is quite powerful but short range, and the long chain weapon is less powerful but very useful at taking out the baddies at a distance. With the relevant power capsules, each weapon can be powered up several levels to inflict more damage.

While there is plenty of hacking action, there is also a platformer element, with you having to navigate your way up a waterfall on falling blocks, and find your way out of an area with skull platforms that drop out from beneath your feet. Sounds great? Well, sadly it's flawed. There are nice things about this game - the music is very reminiscent of Dungeon Explorer, the bosses look pretty good and the game is quite fun to play. But the main problem is that there is so little variety. Each level looks pretty much like the last one, and this gives very little incentive for replay value. The graphics are mostly quite atmospheric, but the main sprite is a little too shiny, and the animation when he walks with the chain weapon is a little...um...'camp'.

This could have been a great game, as it is enjoyable to play at first, but the sheer lack of imagination as the game progresses reduce it to one that you will only play for five minutes every now and again. Pity.