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Web-slinging around the sprawling metropolis that is New York is the amazing Spider-Man - freelance photographer Peter Parker in his secret super-powered, wall-crawling persona!

We join him as he begins a new case, tracking down a mysterious individual who has been systematically hunting down the uncanny X-Men and abducting them for reasons unknown.

The X-Men are normal human beings born with a special X-Factor in their genetic make-up that gives them an extraordinary range of super-powers. Led by Cyclops (and at times, Storm), they do battle against mutant enemies, protecting a world that hates them because they are different.

In this conversion of the "smash" Super NES game based on the top-selling comics titles, the player adopts the mantles of Spider-Man and four X-Men as they do battle across platform environs with robot replicas of their greatest enemies - controled by the evil twisted genius known only as... Arcade (cue screams and frightened gasps)

Derivative platformer based on two o the top-selling comic books around.

Guide the X-Men and Spidey around platform environs beating up meanies and defeating bosses.

Several members of the Mean Machines crew are avid comics fans and are always amazed by how "watered down" their heroes appear in video games - or arrive on-screen with "extra abilities" they don't have in the comics. We reckon that games programmers should adhere a bit more closely to the original characters isn't that half the point of licensing? This game is the worst offender yet with two X-Men in the wrong costumes (Cyclops, Wolverine), all of their powers lessened (Spider-Man can lift ten tons and punch his way through walls... but not in this game! Wolverine's healing factor is gone and Cyclops' eyebeams are hundreds of times more powerful than in this game. Gambit is a shallow mockery of his comic persona). Come on, programmers, pay more attention to the characters you're licensing!

1. Spider-Man
   He can stick to the walls, fire off webs and has a preomonitional "spider sense" to warn him of danger. He can also jump over 30 feet and can punch with the concussive force of an exploding mortar shell (in the comics, not in this game).
   
   In the game, Spidey battles replicas of Spider-Slayer robots and his recent nemesis - the twisted Carnage!
   
   Comics Trivia:
   Convinced the X-Men were traitors in the Super Heroes Secret Wars limited series, Spidey took on the entire group of X-Men and caned their asses with ease! To quote Wolverine: "He made us look like fools! Like amateurs!"
2. Cyclops
   A very fit, athletic man whose eyes can fire beams of pure concussive force. In the game, Cyclops is locked in an underground mining system and has to use his eyebeams and physical power to outwit the alien guards and destroy the evil Sentinel bosses.
   
   Comics Trivia:
   Cyclops' girlfriend, Jean Grey was killed in space by radiation, reborn as Phoenix, saved the universe then killed billions, commited suicide, lived another life as Madelyn Prior and died again! After that, her original body was then found in space in suspended animation (apparently she survived the radiation after all). The amazing world of comics, eh?
3. Wolverine
   Very fast, agile, with animal-like enhanced senses, Wolverine has a fast-heat ability that enables him to survive many wounds and poisons. He also has a skeleton laced with adamantium (the strongest metal in the comics universe). In the game, Wolvie is in a mad fairground/toy room battling the Juggernaut amongst the other meanies.
   
   Comics Trivia:
   Wolverine has adamantium claws that cut through sheet steel like a hot knife through butter. His healing factor retards the ageing process no-one knows exactly how old Wolverine is.
4. Storm
   
   Storm is the mistress of the weather. She can warp weather patterns from miles around to create any kind of condition she likes - except that she can't at all in this game at all in this game and can only send off gusts of wind (fnerk) and lightning bolts. Storm's locked in an underwater chamber and must cause the water level to rise to access new tunnels (she doesn't fly like she does in the comics either doh!)
   Comics Trivia:
   
   Storm is the only black girl ever born with natural blonde hair and blue eyes. She also suffers from acute claustrophobia. Fascinating.
5. Gambit
   Gambit's superhuman abilities involve kinetic energy - the power of movement. He can put so much power into an object that it explodes! He uses plating cards as ammunition. It's a race against time in Gambit's levels of the game - in the first section of the game, he's pursued by a massive spiked ball!
   
   Comics Trivia:
   Picture the scene: Gambit has a spike impaled in his leg. His hands are chained above his head and padlocked. How does he escape? By pulling the spike out with his teeth, dropping it down, catching it with his feet and then *using the spike to pick the padlock open with his feet*! See the X-Men series: The 'Extinction Agenda' if you don't believe us!
6. Special Guest Villains
   Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge is packed with robot replicas of some of the most evil characters in comicdom! The unstoppable Juggernaut makes an appearance in Wolverine's level, whilst Spider-Man has to contend with countless Spider-Slayer robots, The Shocker, Rhino, and the evil killer Carnage! The robotic X-Men killers, the Sentinels, also make an appearance.

This game is written by celebrated programmers Software Creations. They have countless titles to their credit, including the home computer versions of the Capcom coin-op, Bionic Commandos. Their console games are few and far between. They programmed Solstice on the NES (isometric 3D arcade adventure) and the sequel, Equinox on the Super NES. Spider-Man/X-Men also appeared on the Super NES a year ago.

As far as we know, this is their first Megadrive title. All of their games ever have been endowed with phenomenal music, created by Tim Follin. This game is no exception.

Come on Acclaim, this game is over a year old! It's almost exactly the same as the ageing Super NES game, and still have all the faults it had then!

The characters' costumes were out of date then and comics fans are going to be very disheartened by all their heroes' missing powers. So, the licence (which had incredible potential) has been wasted - what's left?

A pretty enjoyable and extremely tough platform game. Fair enough - but is it worth forty quid? In short, no.

There are plenty of superior platform games about (Sonic II, Tiny Toons, Rocket Knight Adventures, Gunstar Heroes, Flashback... I could go on forever) and this doesn't measure up.

I had a good few hours worth of fun out of it, but forty quid is a massive investment and, although I like the game, it simply isn't worth the cash.

It doesn't require an X-Men expert to realise that Spider-Man and his associates are sold short in this game. A licence such as this is a potential explosion of exciting action enacted by five of the most dynamic superheroes in the history of Marvel comics.

In reality, the game places distressing limitations on the central characters. Spider-Man is unable to sling a web unless his feet are placed firmly on the ground and Wolverine, quite uncharacteristically, finds traversing a few simple platforms a chore. Storm is neither versatile nor as lithe as her chosen persona implies.

Unlike Sega's Spider-Man Vs. The Kingpin and X-Men titles, where the superheroes wield their powers to great effect, this uncanny bunch are shadows of their mighty selves here.

Nevertheless, Acclaim give Spider-Man and the X-Men a varied and tough challenge requiring much skill on the player's part.

With the exceptin of the tiresome first stage, many interesting variations of the platform theme await. Though the game's most striking feature is undoubtedly its soundtrack it is a fun game to play and commands respect as a decent title despite the somewhat handicapped heroes.

Presentation 50%
P. You can skip the boring intro level once you've completed it...
N. You can't skip the utterly tedious intro screens, the presentation screens are crap and there's a lack of options.

Graphics 79%
P. Some nice sprites and loads of variety in the backdrops.
N. Some of the backgrounds look rather 8-bit-ish, to say the least.

Sound 80%
P. Excellent music and appropriate sound effects.
N. The music player routine's actual "instruments" are rather sad.

Playability 80%
P. Easy to get into and great fun to play...
N. But it could've been so much better if the programmers haad stuck to the abilities of the actual characters.

Lastability 78%
P. The game's very difficult and there are sixteen levels to complete.
N. The game is so unoriginal in format that experienced players will grow tired of this example of a stale genre.

Overall 78%
This is a pretty decent platform game, but it's a conversion of a year-old Super NES game and there are better examples of the genre available. It's not a great licensed conversion and certainly not worth the asking price.