Bruce Forsyth’s ‘give us a twirl’ girls have got nothing on this critter! Taz is back with a vengeance! He still hasn’t got all his eggs in one basket, but with a little help from SEGA FORCE, we could be having omelette for tea!

Not content with wittering about cutesy kiwis, we pop to the Antipodes yet again and land with a thump in Tasmania, where, it seems, there’s a birrova crisis!

In the good old days (when Neighbours was a twinkle in Reg Grundy’s eye and Pippa wasn’t going through her ‘overnight transformation’ phase in Home and Away), Tasmania was jam-packed full of giant prehistoric seabirds. Good news indeed for the little Tasmanian Devils who roam the island. They loved to munch the odd egg or 12. Free range, of course!

But alas, the birds are now extinct and the egg supply dried up. Rumour has it, over the hills and far away, there’s a valley where the birds still tweet like good uns and lay by the basketful! On hearing this, our Taz is off like a shot in search of his lunch. Lo and behold, you play the part of Taz, scouring the five or so levels for the entrance to the lost valley. Run, leap and whizz whirlwind fashion through the plains, jungle, caverns and ruins of Tasmania.

There are loads of creatures to dodge and mash. Poisonous plants, malevolent mice and (how much more alliteration? —Ed), yep, you guessed it — slippery snakes! Plenty of power-ups are yours for the munching: extra lives, roast chickens, bombs and invincibility stars. Dare-devil antics a-plenty, folks! It’s time to go to work on an egg!

Paul muses... ‘TOO EASY!’

That old devil called ‘ugh!’, coming live from the land of cork hats and lager, looking like a badly shaven Alsatian! Taz-Mania hits the Master System!

To be honest, I was quite surprised. The graphics are top notch, very cartoony, incredibly crisp and clear. Sound’s above average, with plenty of ditties, themes and FX. Presentation’s not bad, though a little lacking in places.

So, it’s a real shame the game’s just foo easy! I only played it once and completed it there and then! Although the ending’s slick (quite steamy and suggestive!), it didn’t make up for the lack of levels.

That annoying mine level from the Mega Drive’s missing. If it had been Included, Taz-Mania would’ve been a touch more challenging.

To sum up, a corker of a game for the young or inexperienced, but for the toughened, meaner game-freak, the lack of challenge and content spoil what could’ve been one hell of a game.

PAUL 75%

Ade advises... ‘QUALIFIED GAME-FREAKS — STEER CLEAR!’

Asked to list my Top Ten favourite Sega games, Mega Drive Taz-Mania would be up there with the best of ‘em. Maybe a touch easy, but the superb cartoony graphics and slick playability had me hooked from day dot.

So, being an Inquisitive kinda guy, I was interested to see how Sega would convert Taz lo the Master System. Visually, they’ve done a pretty fine job. Although the levels look ultra-different from those on the MD, the graphics have retained their cartoon feel. For an MS, they’re well smart! Crisp and incredibly colourful.

The main sprite doesn’t differ too much from his 16-bit counterpart. He still rubs his turn when he gobbles nosh and stamps his feet if you hesitate. His ‘whizz’ isn’t as effective but it’s executed well. Sound, too, is great. Plenty of quirky theme tunes, fanfares and spot FX.

Master System Taz-Manla’s downfall is most definitely its lastabillty. It needs tweaking in the difficulty department. As Paul says, it Just too flickin’ easy. We don’t mean to brag, but us bods finished It In about 20 minutes!

Once you remember where all the drops and spikes are, appeal’s extremely limited. Continues are included but you only need to use ‘em once or twice.

If you’re an inexperienced gamester looking for a good platform romp to practice on, you can’t go far wrong with Taz-Mania. Qualified game-freaks — steer clear.

ADE 73%

SF Rating

Presentation
65% - Short text intro, three lives, continues, text between levels
Visuals
81% - Cartoony graphics, good sprite animation, plain backdrops, smooth scrolling
Sonics
74% - Better than the usual annoying MS tinklings! Good theme tunes, FX add a sense of occasion
Playability
83% - Easy to control, Taz is smooth and responsive. No bugbears in gameplay
Lastability
58% - Not for hard ‘n’ fast freaks! A touch easy. Beginners should enjoy this

71%

A decent game. Good looking and playable, sadly even easier than the MD

Producer
Sega
GG
Dec
MS
Dec
Memory
256K
Players
1
Price
£34.99
Rating
71
Reviewer
Sega Force magazine
Region
UK
Scans
Sega Force - Issue 12

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