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The gods are angry... Very angry. In fact, they're so positively irate about the foul goings-on in a certain Greek city, that they've decided to unleash a hideous plague of foul beasts onto the metropolis. As you might imagine, upon seeing the satanic hordes, the city's inhabitants take flight, leaving the place deserted. A hero is required to pack up his most devastating weaponry and enter the infested city, dealing out destruction to any of the demonic minions who cross his path. You are that hero!

What this generally all boils down to is you strutting around the eight-way scrolling cityscapes, dealing destruction to all who cross your path. Unfortunately, your progress is halted by a number of devious puzzles the gods have prepared for you. So, along with your brawn and weaponry skills, your intellect and puzzle-solving capabilities are needed to progress.

Adding to your problems are a number of main beasties that the gods have decided to put at the end of each stage! Watch out and keep blasting or they may spell your doom!

Gods was originally an Amiga game, programmed by the "legendary" Bitmap Brothers team.

Run around the platform area, blasting meanies, solving puzzles and defeating terrifying bosses!

As you progress through the levels, you're going to need every single piece of decent weaponry available open to you. Here's a selection of some of the instruments of destruction you find on your travels...

1. Daggers
   Not very powerful, these weapons are standard issue at the beginning of the game. You won't hold onto them for long though...
2. Morning Stars
   Slightly more powerful than the daggers, these are best used by the end of level one.
3. Fireballs
   Interesting range weapons well suited to getting to meanies your other weapons can't reach.
4. Magical Axes
   These drop down below you, despatching any meanies in their path.
5. Spears
   High power weapons well suited to the nasty beasts found on the later levels.

Each weapon has a power rating. This dictates how quickly it takes your weapon to despatch the enemy sprites. A level one meanie, for instance, is instantly destroyed with a power one weapon (like the dagger). Should you attempt the same thing with nasties on the last level, it takes around twelve hits to kill one beast! Power-up your weaponry regularly... or suffer the consequences!

Some of the tunes in Gods were composed by none other than John Foxx. He was originally a member of Ultravox, but left and went solo (while they turned completely sad and commercial, producing 'New Romantic' hits like Vienna) and became involved in the early hard-core synthesizer scene. His hits include Underpass and Burning Car.

Located around the Gods map are a lot of switches. These switches are used for many different things. In their simplest form, they might just open a door, or cause a problematic spike to disappear in a puff of smoke! On later levels, combinations of levers are required to achieve different effects, be they opening doors or revealing secret passages!

At the end of each level, the trader enters the city to sell you some gear. The amount of money you have to spend depends on how many cash tokens you've picked up and saved in the previous rounds.

Your spondoolics are best spent on the likes of new weaponry and extra lives. Portions are also available to boost the power ratings of your weapons, add some energy to your life meter or buy a familiar! For those who can't guess, the familiar is a multiple (as in Gradius) that swoops around you, attacking meanies! Cool!

I've only played the Amiga version a couple of times, but even with that little experience I can see that this is a much better version. The graphics are slicker, the gameplay faster and the tunes more menacing.

The only gripe is the joypad control, which in unnecessarily fiddly and causes frustration at first, but once mastered there's a huge game in there waiting to be discovered. Although it doesn't look packed full of original features, Gods mixes platforming, shooting and puzzling brilliantly to produce a challenging and addictive game that no self-respecting Megadrive owner should be without.

I've been looking forward to this one for ages. I thought the Amiga game was decent, let down only by a lack of speed. This is no simple port-over. Renegade have recruited well-known coders Graftgold to do the honours, and well-executed, with stylish graphics and some very decent music (Shame about level one's tune, though. What went wrong?)

I did have problems with the control method. Getting onto ladders is a real pain with the joypad and takes ages to get the hang of. Despite that though, Gods is a super skillful game, boasting weeks of arcade action and devious puzzling to keep you occupied. However, Sega Europe don't want to release it for some bizarre reason, so you're going to have to buy an import copy if you want to play it! D'oh! Well worth investing in if you're after a game that lasts weeks longer than the dull, easy scrolling shoot-'em-ups every other Megadrive game seems to be.

Presentation 88%
P. Some nice intro screens kick off the proceedings.
N. The options screen could have been more comprehensive.

Graphics 92%
P. Brilliant, stylish sprites and backdrops.
N. The main sprite's animation is a tad lacking.

Sound 89%
P. A vast array of quality sound effects and music...
N. ...apart from the level one tune, which is dreadful.

Playability 87%
P. Once you've got the hang of it, the action is fun and enjoyable.
N. The game takes a while to get into because of the awkward controls...

Lastability 92%
P. Twelve massive levels packed with tons of puzzles and some fab arcade action make this one last for ages!

Overall 89%
A brilliant example of the arcade/adventure genre with loads of challenge - well worth purchasing.