Hack'n'slay with cutie power on the SEGA.

WONDER Boy is back in his third incarnation, once again bringing the art of the silly sprite to the Sega. As with the other Wonder Boy titles you play the adolescent hero as he carves his way through various baddies (none of whom look in the least bit threatening), in a platform based action adventure.

This time you begin your adventure as per any day of the week. You know, it's the usual monster hacking routine (no sweat). But things start to go wrong when you come across the nasty old Dragon. When (and if) you manage to mortally wound him he throws a horrible curse and turns you into Lizard Man (yuk!). Which only goes to prove what you suspected all along — Dragons are really bad losers.

Well, no use crying over spilt milk — you're a lizard now and you're going to have to work out how to regain your normal form. It isn't all bad news, however, you do look very cute as a Lizard (honestly, it suits you). Even so, you'll probably not want to stay that way for too long.

The answer lies in a magical item known as the Salamander Cross (no, not an award for heroic lizardry but the only thing that can restore you to normality (normality?!). The rest of the game concerns your quest for the said Cross, and involves the usual bizz with a whole host of colourful nasty critters.

The game is quite enjoyable to play and has some nice touches. The sprites are fun and well animated (look out especially for the way Wonder Boy himself skids to a halt when you stop. The scenery features are very good too, like the giant springs which launch Wonder Boy/Lizard Man onto higher platforms. Good arcade adventure fare for the committed...

Laurence Scotford

£27.95 cart OUT NOW

GRAPHICS

7

IQ FACTOR

4

AUDIO

6

FUN FACTOR

7

ACE RATING

675

Predicted Interest Curve

Quite a good fun game to begin with, but there's not enough to keep your interest up for very long.

Rating

68

Reviewer

ACE magazine

Region

UK

Scans

ACE-Magazine-Issue28?gallerypage=50

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