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Early this century, there was a series called Flash Gordon. In the last ten years, a film was made all about Flash and his friends. Now you can be Flash as he attempts to defeat Ming and protect the Earth, courtesy of Mastertronic.

The game loads in three parts and the parts must be played in the order in which they are on the tape. In the first part of the game you wander around the jungle as trying to find Prince Barin in his cave. Arrows mark the route and you must shoot or avoid the inhabitants of the jungle.

In part two, you try to convince Barin to help you by a bit of hand-to-hand combat. The combat is resolved in standard combat game technique, you have a variety of manoeuvres which you can do, including kicks, punches and rolls.

Below the playing area is a picture of Flash and Barin pulling on a rope in a tug of war. Every blow that you land on Barin pulls him towards you and every time you are hit, you are pulled towards Barin. To win the combat you must pull Barin right across to your side of the screen. If you win the combat then part three loads and if you fail you must start again.

Finally, you must try to catch Ming on your jetbike. A scanner shows the position of Ming, and you must navigate towards him avoiding the robot guards. After the guards are some gates which replenish your energy if you pass through them. A minefield then stands in your way and finally you catch up with Ming who tries to destroy you.

The graphics are colourful, but get messy when something passes behind something else. The sound effects are simple pings and bangs. There is a tune which is good and this plays some of the time.

There are many things wrong with this game. The first is only an irritation and is when you have to stop loading the game partway through to select the method of control. Why can't this be on a menu screen of the game itself? Part one is boring and repetitive. Part two is a simple combat game.

Get to the combat stage.

Graphics 56%
P. Good use of colour.
N. Messy when things pass over each other.

Sonics 67%
P. Nice times.

Grab Factor 40%
P. Part two and three are OK.
N. Part one is rubbish.

Staying Power 32%
P. You may come back to two and three.
N. Far too easy.

Overall 37%
A very poor effort.