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The people of the planet Tuul must have impeccably bad taste. For starters they called the planet Tuul. Then they preceded to give themselves names like 'Sarlac' and 'Vlaros'. Not the kind of place to feature in the intergalactic tourist guide. On this god-forsaken rock, Sarlac is the local Bond baddie, and he successfully launched a surprise attack on your good tribe some twenty years ago, when you were but a princeling. Even as the palace burned, the king's arch mage zapped you off to the safety of Earth, where you lived as a drifter, hitcher and general good-for-nothing (so Rad Automatic must be the Princess Betharda of Calamester, then?). Meanwhile Sarlac seizes the mystical lightstone and uses your villagers as footstools and pencil cases.

Now you are returning to Tuul to liberate your people from a slave regime even Lord Emap couldn't comprehend - using the trusty instruments of truth and justice (i.e. guns, bombs and projectiles).

Your hero is a versatile, full-of-beans type, rather like that geezer from Delphine's Flashback, and the hero of Prince Of Persia. He spends his time running along corridors, jumping chasms and sometimes even going both at once (now that's clever). He can haul himself up on to platforms, grab cliff edges and press himself against the wall to dodge enemy fire. At your command he will arm his weapon in preparation, though this inhibits his other movements.

The route to Sarlac's fortress is littered with shambling and wretched captives. Amongst the corpses are prisoners chained to the wall. Some may offer useful advice, but it's all too easy to catch them in the crossfire when you get into a firefight with a tooled-up orc. C'est la via.

The way to the fortress is blocked by several types of security mechanism. You'll have to discover the objects that allow you to penetrate them. The snag is that most of them are possessed by the armed guards parading the levels. A bullet in the skill is usually more effective than a polite word. When you get the objects, you then have to figure out their use.

1. Hover Bomb Floating incendiary - explodes on contact.

2. Remote Wasp Remote controlled detonation device.

3. Bridge Key Activates the laser bridges on some levels. One model fits all.

4. Elevator Portable device using anti-grav technology.

5. Potion Health restorative often held by prisoners.

In addition to object puzzles, there are a variety of impediments and traps for you to overcome. Robot guns are lowered from the ceiling when pressure pads are activated, lift mechanisms have to be operated and secret doors behind waterfalls should not be missed.

Converted by Interplay from their SNES game Blackthorne, and reminiscent of the classic Flashback.

Assault Sarlac's forces, seize the lightstone and avenge your father by shootin' and jumpin' all the way!

Interplay have taken an established idea and created a slick interpretation of it. Blackthorne won't be winning the 32X any prizes for graphics or sound, as both are accomplished but hardly ground-breaking. Its best achievement is some absorbing and taxing gameplay as you explore a huge amount of levels which explains the large size of the cart.

Good game! Good game! - as Brucie would say. Blackthorne is an accomplished little number that looks quite sharp (well by 16-bit standards) and plays really nicely. Let's put aside all the "what the 32X should be capable of doing" argument and see what Blackthorne offers.

The gameplay is absorbing, and the area covered by the game is huge. The character control feels good on the whole, although there's a nasty unreliability about object selection that sometimes leads to unwanted jumps.

The graphics are fine, with animation faring even better. Only the music is a positive irritation. What you might think is that Blackthorne is not that much better than Flashback in style and content, which is after all two years old. Maybe this is so, but this is amongst the 32X's most enjoyable games, and it won't be coming out on the Megadrive.

Graphics 87%
P. Very crisp. with backgrounds getting better as you progress.
N. Little graphic variation within each zone.

Animation 88%
P. You move fluidly and purposefully. The other characters have lovely touches.

Music 59%
N. Gets very annoying very quickly as it repeats continuously.

Effects 79%
P. Good gun noises and the odd sample.
N. More ambiant background effects would have added to the game.

Playability 89%
P. Very nice learning curve and well constructed gameplay make it critically absorbing.

Lastability 85%
P. Each level gets progressively tougher and more complex.
N. The content of the game stays pretty much the same throughout.

Overall 80%
A powerful mixture of explora-shoot-'em-up that doesn't scream 32-bit-ability, but oozes playability.