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Mick and Mack are two cool dudes - equally cool in fact, owing to the fact that they are identical in everything apart from their skin colour! They like nothing better than to visit the local McDonalds restaurant and sample the latest wares - like the new Chicken Hatwings Meal, for example.

However, on their latest visit, an odd thing happened to our pair of mischievious McDonalds munchers. On the orders of Ronald McDonald, our pals have been warped to some of the most environmentally disturbed zones on our planet. The nauseating clown has endowed each of our heroes with a super-skill slime rifle. With this useful piece of kit, the lads can reduce the environmentally unsound beings into little more than ozone.

But the reason for the boys' abduction is twofold. Mr. McDonald has lost over a thousand of his McDonalds logos, and he desperately wants them back. Collecting these logos (or arches) is the key to leaving the level. If you've got enough and you find Ronald McDonald, he warps you to the next level. If you haven't enough, the clown sends you back into the stage to get some more.

There are four major zones for the Global Gladiators (as they have now been christened) to slime into an environmental utopia. Maybe you (controlling either Mick or Mack) can save the world from an age of hideous pollution.

Mick and Mack is an original game based on the McDonalds, but "borrows" many elements from various platform games.

Run around the scrolling landscapes, collecting McDonalds arches and sliming the environmental bad guys.

Mick and Mack have been given highly potent weaponry by McDonalds' favourite clown. The slime rifle has an unlimited supply of environmentally sound slime that destroys most meanies on contact. By using the up and down controls on the D-pad, you can alter the trajectory of the slime you fire.

There are four distinct zones in the game, each with three different sub-levels. In each, the aim remains the same. Colect those arches, slime the meanies and find Ronald McDonald in order to progress to the next stage.

1. Slime World
   The first level of Global Gladiators sees Mick and Mack entering Slime World - a hideous place polluted by environmentally grotesque slime. Beware of sad slime monsters, spewing out slime. Watch out as well for slime machines, which do much the same thing, but at an even greater rate!
2. The Forest
   Oh no! A regiment of saw-bearing beavers have entered a lush area of forest! It's down to Mick or Mack to enter the forest and save it by sliming the beavers before the trees and greenery are no more. Beware especially of the bees' nests. Disturb these and Mick or Mack are continually harassed by the stinging insects.
3. Toxitown
   Possibly the most polluted level in the whole game, Toxitown is inhabited by noxious gases, belching dustbins and rampaging spare tyres. The hardest part of the Toxitown level involves negotiating a way through to the end of each stage. There are many walls blocking potential routes.
4. The Arctic
   The last zone the Mick and Mack must save from an environmental doom is set in the Arctic. Various glaciers and ice caves must be negotiated in order to face up to the evil menace that is facing the world - and what's more there's more than one menace. Arghh!

Why McDonalds have endorsed such an environmentally-friendly game I haven't a clue - it's a bit like Saddam Hussein promoting the Peace Corps! But I guess their motives are irrelevant because, when it comes down to it, this is a superb looking and sounding game.

The music's fab - riotous get-down-and-boogie tunes and fantastic sound effects. The sprites are big and bold but, although it's all very right on to have one black and one white kid, it would have been a vast improvement to have some difference in their playability factors.

The backdrops are gorgeous and the smooth scrolling is some of the best I've seen. The gameplay's fast, brilliant fun and utterly addictive but heed this warning: Play this on Difficult level only because on Normal and Easy, it's too much of a doddle and once completed there's not that much to bring you back for more.

Mick And Mack: Global Gladiators is the slickest platform game to hit the Sega Megadrive since Sonic The Hedgehog II. The smoothness and polish of the game is excellent - the presentation is superb. The graphics and sound are awesome too - obviously the programming team has spent a great deal of time on this game...

So, why isn't Mick And Mack a Megagame then? Well, the problem is lastability. In Easy mode, I finished the game on my third go. Normal mode lasted a day more. Only with the Difficult setting did I find myself taxed, but by then I'd seen the whole game... twice! Why oh why didn't they make the Difficult mode the default setting?

Or, if that wasn't good enough, why didn't they take out the single continue and cut down the number of lives you have by half?

I really enjoyed what Mick And Mack had to offer, but the Easy and Normal difficulty setting really spoiled it for me.

Presentation 94%
P. Superb. The game has a massive option screen and loads of different settings to tweak. You can even practise playing the bonus game from this screen!

Graphics 92%
P. The sprites and backdrops are mostly excellent. The smooth scrolling is a marvel to behold.
N. The graphics on the Toxitown level are a tad substandard compared to the rest of the game.

Sound 91%
P. Mick And Mack is brilliant in this department too. There are loads of excellent samples and catchy tunes. The house-type music on the bonus screen is brilliant.

Playability 87%
P. Fast and furious, boasting platform action that's very addictive from the word go.
N. Apart from the volume of meanies, there is little difference gameplay-wise between each level.

Lastability 70%
P. There's a lot of difference between difficulty levels, and the Difficult level is quite challenging.
N. Unfortunately, the game's spoiled by the lack of difficulty in the Easy and Normal levels.

Overall 80%
Superb in the graphics, sound and presentation department, Mick And Mack is sadly let down by a lack of thought in the lastability department.