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At the tender age of fifteen, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, which endowed him with the proportionate strength and agility of a spider! After being party responsible for not saving his uncle's life, Peter Parker decided to dedicate his life to fighting crime - as the Amazing Spider-Man!

A few years have passed and the criminals have had enough of having their cunning schemes constantly foiled, and thanks to the Kingpin of Crime, they've fatched a dastardly plot to do away with the web-slinger, and gain control of the city of New York into the bargain!

The Kingpin's planted a massive atomic bomb somewhere in New York and it's going to explode in under 24 hours! What's more, he's managed to convince the good citizens that Spidey's responsible! Spidey's job is simple. Find The Kingpin and disarm the bomb, but Kingpin's recruited some of Spider-Man's worst enemies to put up a bit of a fight...

1. Doctor Octopus Otto Octavius was a brilliant scientist, who majored in the atomic field. He devised his own octopus-like extra arms to handle radioactive materials. Unfortunately, one of his experiments exploded, and his arms were welded onto his body! Doc Ock is one of Spidey's oldest and most psychotic foes!

2. The Lizard Doctor Curt Conners is a biology expert - with only one arm! Fascinated by the way lizards could grow back lost limbs, he injected himself with a lizard-derived serum. He got his arm back, but a minor side effect turned him into the Lizard, another villain who hates Spidey. Watch out for his powerful tail!

3. Electro A lowly electrical engineer was struck full force by a massive charge of electricity whilst up a telegraph role! The resulting villain, Electro, is capable of flying on a pad of electricity along with throwing massive sparks and charging up anything metal with potentially lethal electricity!

4. Sandman Sandman is capable of changing himself into sand at will, which makes punching him very difficult indeed. He can also compact his mass, which makes his massive fists very hard (as well as very dangerous indeed). Sandman's hanging out in Central Park at the moment, and Spidey's death is high on his agenda!

5. Hobgoblin The Green Goblin may be history but Hobgoblin's even more powerful! This mysterious masked being throws poisonouos pumpkin bombs at Spider-Man, has the ability to fly on his rocket perch.

He possesses super strength almost the equal of Spider-Man himself. A dangerous foe indeed.

6. The Kingpin Wilson Fisk, alias the king of crime himself has been behind some of Spider-Man's closest scrapes with death, but he always keeps himself away for the action and hires out super villains to his dirty work. Maybe this time Spider-Man will get around to kicking his monkey ass well into next week.

7. Venom Spider-Man's old black costume turned out to be a highly evolved alien symbiote that wanted to possess him! Thanks to the Fantastic Four the alien was captured, but it escaped and melded with Eddie Brock, a body-building journalist who hates Spider-Man!

Together they are Venom, a being with exactly the same powers as Spidey - with even more muscle! Venom turns up throughout the game, but the final confrontation occurs near the end of the game!

Taking pictures of the end-of-level super villains enables Peter Parker to cash in on his powers. Any money made can then be used to top up on web fluid. $150 are awarded for any good pics of the likes of the Lizard, but watch out for Venom. A bonus $100 is available for a good pic of him (or rather it).

All of Spider-Man's special powers have made it into this Megadrive game, and making full use of them is essential in finding the bomb... and The Kingpin!

1. Web-Shooter Spider-Man's highly adhesive webbing is used by the masked vigilante to swing around at high speed. It also comes in handy for webbing up any potential foes. Spidey can also spin himself a shield with which to absorb enemy fire!

2. Wall-Crawling Spider-Man can stick to any surface at any angle, just like a spider. Scaling skyscrapers is a cinch, but when the walls are covered with slime (as in The Lizard's domain), things get a bit more complicated.

The Master System game was an excellent use of the Spidey licence, but this Megadrive version is far, far superior. A special mention must go to the control method. It's very cumbersome to start with, but once you've got to grips with it, Spidey can be made to do all sorts of things, including massive leaps and amazing web-spinning.

This comes into its own where there exists a huge open space where Spidey web-slings at speeds equal to Sonic at full throttle! The game difficulty levels are great too. On easy level, only a few of the levels are open to exploration.

You have to play at 'Normal' level to see the majority of the game, and it's very taxing. Infinite continues usually spoils a game, but here, you've still got the time limit to beat and you lose an hour or so for every continue used. For Spidey fans, as well as lovers of a decent platform game, it's an essential buy.

Megadrive Spider-Man is similar in concept to the Master System version we reviewed last month, but has a much larger play area and vastly improved gameplay. It's basically a Shinobi-style game, but has plenty of new touches to keep your interest - I particular like the way you can take "photos" during the game, and being able to return home and rest when energy is low is a novel twist.

The control method is quite tricky to get used to, but once mastered, Spidey can do all manner of moves, from running across the ceiling to swinging around on his web at high speed. Graphically, Spider-Man is varied in quality. The large Spider-Man sprite is quite nicely drawn and animated and all the baddies are excellent, but the backdrops are rather bland and look a bit rough around the edges.

Still, Spider-Man is a very challenging game.

Presentation 90%
Great comic screens pop up at intervals to give that authentic Marvel atmosphere.

Graphics 82%
Backdrops vary from good to average, but the sprites are good and there's plenty of variety.

Sound 73%
The tunes get annoying after a while and the effects are lacking too.

Playability 90%
Difficult to get into, but mastering Spidey's moves is part of the fun.

Lastability 91%
Seven super-villains are after Spidey, and they won't go down without a big fight!

Overall 90%
Be your own Spider-Man and save the world in this addictive action platform game!