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Ooer! Superman's in deep do-do! One of his many enemies, one Brainiac, has learned of the intimate connection between the Man of Steel and Lois Lane and in a fit of rage has kidnapped the lovely reporter! Now, with Superman busy on the rescue attempt, Brainiac and his demonic minions are bent on taking over the entire Earth!

Superman decides on a plan to do away with the evil genius. Using his amazing super-powers, he plans to attack Brainiac's operation at a street level, working his way through the echelons of the evil being's invasion force taking on meanies left, right and centre.

It's up to you, controlling the Man of Steel, to reach Brainiac's control centre in deep space. Then it's an all-out battle to the death: hero versus villain in a titanic struggle for overall supremacy (or something along those lines).

This is an improed conversion of the original Megadrive game - which hasn't even been released yet!

Guide Supes through the multi-directionally scrolling levels, decking meanies and splattering evil end-of-level bosses!

Superman has access to a number of fabbo powers. The most obvious of them all are his flying powers - which take effect if you keep your finger held down on the jump button. Once flying, Supes has the ability to make use of his topper heat vision. Whilst not as powerful as his super-powered fists, it comes in handy for blowing up any flying meanies.

Hang on? Wasn't Superman dead in the comics? Well, yes, but as we write this, DC Comics have just released a new Superman series called... Superman Lives! Now there are four Supermen. Clark Kent's body has been resurrected - but his spiritual essence has been lost and he's a lot nastier.

There's a Superman who's actually a kid who is a clone of the original Superman. Oh, let's not forget the cyborg Supes, who can't remember Superman's previous existence.

Finally, there's a construction worker (who is in fact a technical genius), who create his own Superman armour! Strange, eh?

Superhuman powers don't come cheaply - not even for Superman. Dotted around the landscape are various Superman logos. Collect these to endow Supes with a superhuman power. For example, in the first level, collection of an icon endows Supes with heatvision - ideal for in-flight meanie frying.

Other collectables give the Man of Steel extra stamina. Very useful indeed.

Superman is a fairly decent Master System release. The graphics are okay, the gameplay is very smooth and quite compelling. As Rich says, the best thing about this cart is that the difficulty level is pitched so well. Although at first the gameplay is very tough, it's still quite addictive - and that quality keeps you coming back. An above average release worth looking at.

Superman is initially quite frustrating. It's too tempting to shoot up into the skies and promptly get blasted by a meanie that shoots on to the screen.

The key, of course, is patience, and once I'd spent a bit more time on the game I began to like it. The control method is exceptionally well programmed - the action is smooth, very fast and quite addictive. It's also a very tough game too.

Working your way through the levels takes quite some doing, but you always seem to make some progress, which always brings you back to the game. It's not a classic release, but it's certainly worth checking out if you're after a game with some challenge.

Presentation 66%
P. Some options to tweak, and a nice title logo...
N. But the Daily Planet intermission screens aren't up to much at all - in fact, they look cack.

Graphics 69%
P. The scrolling's some of the best seen on the Master System and the animation's quite good.
N. The sprites are very small, there aren't many of them and some of the backdrops are a bit dodgy.

Sound 55%
N. A veritable cavalcade of average sound effects coupled with instantly forgettable "music".

Playability 72%
P. Superman's fast and playable. The difficult level is pitched just right.
N. The initial difficulty a lot of players had with the game might be its downfall in the playability department.

Lastability 78%
P. The game's very tough indeed - and that's on Easy mode! On the Normal and Hard settings, it's practically unbeatable!
N. Superman will take ages to beat, and you might get too frustrated to play it right through.

Overall 75%
Better than the Megadrive version! Superman is fast, tough and playable. However, it is very frustrating, which will put a lot of players off the game.