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Catastrophe has befallen the land of Eternia: Skeletor has taken Castle Greyskulle and imprisoned the sorceress. He-Man's only hope of defeating Skeletor lies in recovering the Cosmic key, a device enabling transport through time and space.

While escaping Skeletor's clutches, He-Man and his friends materialise in modern day America. Separated from the Eternians, the key falls into the hands of a College student, and, thinking it to be a musical instrument he plays it, little realising that the sound has attracted the attention of Skeletor and his evil minions...

The player takes the part of He-Man who, with his two companions Teela and Gwildor, must find the eight chords necessary to activate the Cosmic key and take them back to Castle Greyskulle. The action begins in downtown America with He-Man searching the streets for the missing chords. He-Man is directed around the flick-screen metropolis by joystick and frequently encounters Skeletor's troopers who are defeated by blasting.

Most chords are found lying around the roadways, while the remainder are only obtained upon the destruction of Skeletor's henchmen at specific locations around the city, including the scrapyard and Charlie's music store. Here, the action is displayed in more detail as He-Man combats his adversaries in close quarters. A mid-air battle is also fought once He-Man has found the flying disk which resides on the rooftops.

To aid progress, a map of the urban labyrinth is provided and is brought up by tapping the space bar. He-Man's friends Teela and Gwildor also appear at intervals to proffer advice and information.

Only once all eight chords have been gathered can He-Man make his way back to Castle Greyskulle for the final showdown with Skeletor himself. Landing on the precarious throne dias, He-Man must force Skeletor into the surrounding abyss to free Eternia from his evil, and finally become Master of the Universe.

I found Masters Of The Universe very confusing during the street scenes, and the process of locating places like the scrapyard and Charlie's store were achieved only with copious references to the map.

Every time you turn a corner, the same screen appears, but with an altered colour scheme and displayed in a different orientation.

If you continually move in the same direction, you effectively stay within the same location (I said it was confusing!).

The remainder of the game is pretty standard, with colourful sprites and some very pretty backdrops. Sound is no great shakes though, consisting of a weedy introductory tune and harsh sound effects.

Good fun for the prospective younger market, but elder players will probably find the shallow gameplay extremely unrewarding.

In spite of the unoriginal action and mediocre graphics and sound, I still managed to glean some enjoyment from Masters Of The Universe. What strikes me, though, is how easy the game is.

He-Man can wanted the streets fairly oblivious to the troopers and their fire because they're so easy to dodge, and the first game I played seemed to last for close to half an hour.

In a way this is good, because at least it means that it can be played by younger gamers, at which it is utimately aimed.

Certainly playable, but having a rather limited appeal for the more experienced joystick-jockeys.

While the rather unchallenging and straightforward gameplay won't appeal to older players, I think younger computer users will find Masters Of The Universe enjoyable. This is surely a good thing, since the game is based on a film aimed directly at young children!

The graphics aren't spectacular, and the sound is by no means great, but there's enough in the gameplay to keep an ardent He-Man fan glued to his monitor until the next episode of Masters Of The Universe.

Presentation 60%
Decent on-screen appearance, but the confusing gameplay is inadequately explained in the instructions.

Graphics 62%
The bland street scenes are supplemented by more detailed locations.

Sound 38%
Tepid intro screen tune and standard blasting effects.

Hookability 56%
Confusing movement system takes time to get used to, but the objective is very straightforward.

Lastability 46%
The shallow gameplay soon takes its toll on the more hardened campaigners.

Overall 57%
A simple but appealing arcade adventure aimed - and indeed well suited to - a younger audience.