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Step into the adventurous shoes of Willy Beamish and save him from the horrors of the military cadet school in this point-and-click graphic adventure.

Life's tough when you're a young slip of a lad - Just ask young Willy Beamish, cursed from birth by having both a stupid first name and surname.

As we join him in his very own game, he is in what the game describes as "very deep do-do". Well, you'd probably be up the same creek without a certain instrument if your pet frog leapt from your shoulders and dislocated the headmaster's wig at the end-of-term address. Obviously, Mr Frick (for it is he!) isn't impressed by that particular form of tom-foolery. Consequently, he's given you an extremely bad school report and ordered you to serve detention - on the last day or term! Aiiieeee!

Serving the spell in detention is only Willy's tiniest concern. If that school report reaches his house, he's likely to be sent away to a military cadet school, rather than to high school like his mates! Willy needs your help! You've got to take control of Willy and make sure that the dodgy report never reaches home - a tough task indeed. However, you start the game with a helpful edge. You are still the proud owner of Mr Frick's hairpiece...

Located inside Willy's bedroom is this "smart" space shooter. It's a complete game-within-a-game and ranks as one of Willy's favourite arcade games! Basically it's a cross between Super Space Invaders, Arkanoid and Tetris (as you can probably tell from the name). Blocks fall from the ceiling and you've got to blast them as quickly as possible.

The blocks build up once they hit the floor of the well. Should they stack up to the top of the well, it's game over. Luckily, there are blaster power-ups to aid you on your quest. It's Willy's aim is to master this game and become the supreme champion of all time.

The Adventures Of Willy Beamish are awash with all manner of "interesting" personalities. Here's a quick selection.

1. Willy Beamish
   See that Willy Beamish? That's you, that is.
2. Brianna
   A horrible name and a horrible attitude. Little sisters, don't you just hate them?
3. Mom
   A bit of an American domestic stereotype, Mom is first found at the kitchen making dinner!
4. Dad
   Hellbent on sending Willy to military school, Dad makes things quite difficult at the best of times...
5. Ms. Glass
   Firm evidence that compulsory retirement should be introduced for boring school teachers with irritating voices.
6. Chubby
   The stereotyped fat lad who gains social acceptance by being nasty to everyone.
7. The Nurse
   Illness rocketed when she joined the school. Perhaps it's something to do with her hands-on approach to medicine.
8. Carmine
   The cool dude who gets his kicks by indulging in juvenile delinquency.

The further you get into the game, the more characters you meet, such as Mr. Frick, the school headmaster - Willy's arch enemy who has the power to send him to thie dread military cadet school! Keep a look out for Dad too - make sure that your report card goes nowhere near him!

Willy is forever wearing a massive backpack - even during classes. It's not surprising as this is where he keeps all of his useful items, like his Game Buddy (tm) portable gaming unit, his yoyo and of course, his amphibian pal, Horny the frog (yes, that is his real name. We can only guess why Willy gave him that particular moniker).

Willy Beamish is played to a strict time table. However, there are times when there isn't much action going on. That's when the time advance mode comes into effect. Once selected, the timer is moved on to the next significant event - thus saving a lot of the player's time.

I applaud Dynamix in trying out a game that's as daring as Willy Beamish on the Mega-CD. It's amazing just how much data can be crammed onto one compact disc!

The range of graphics in the game is astounding and the amount of sampled speech (though of a slightly dubious quality) is stunning. What I like about the game is the wayt the entire story continues no matter what choice you've made - there's always something new cropping up that you haven't seen before.

Unfortunately, Willy Beamish suffers from three very prominent problems. First of all, there's not much in the way of real interaction. It's what you make Willy say that truly dictates how the game progresses and not much else.

My second gripe concerns the control method, which is sluggish and unreliable at the best of times. However, the thing that really put me off Willy Beamish was the vast amount of disc access the game uses. I was literally driven off the game because I couldn't wait ten seconds just to move from one location to another.

I'm glad that companies are using the Mega-CD for new types of console games, but I think I'm going to wait for The Secret Of Monkey Island on CD for my adventuring needs.

The Adventures Of Willy Beamish is a great exercise in graphical quality. The animation on both the cameos and the sprites is of an exceptional standard, and, as you can see from the screenshots, the backdrops are amazing - obviously drawn by a real expert.

The sound too, is awesome, with an unfeasibly amount of sampled speech and great effects. However, I just didn't really feel comfortable with the game. The problem is that the player isn't really in control.

You just don't feel as though as you have much control of what happens to young Mister Beamish. The amount of options open to you is very small and some sections of the game - like the kitchen-with-Mom scene - are intensely dull. Like Rich, I'm happy to see new console game concepts, but there's still a lot of work to be done before we see true interactive cartoons on the Mega-CD.

You can start a dialogue at any time with any of the game's characters. Just by selecting the appropriate icon and clicking on a character, a conversation is begun.

Willy's choices of dialogue are shown in a box. You can "think" about each phrase (that is, hear it before he says it) by pressing A. Button B makes him say it. The "thinking" approach is a good idea, because sometimes, Willy's sarcastic tones change the meaning of the sentence completely!

Presentation 93%
P. Stunning. Although there aren't any options, you don't mind because the rest of the game is literally dripping in quality presentation!

Graphics 93%
P. Once again, Willy Beamish excels, with a range of quality visuals the like of which you've never seen before on the Mega-CD. The sprites, backdrops and animation are all excellent.

Sound 77%
P. The game is literally packed with hundreds of sampled conversations that unfold as the game progresses.
N. Unfortunately, the in-game music is something of a shambles.

Playability 66%
P. There's plenty to see in the game...
N. ...but the slowness of the game and the almost constant disc-accessing is enough to put you off.

Lastability 60%
P. Willy Beamish offers a massive quest and many different solutions to the entire game, which should keep you coming back...

Overall 68%
A welcome concept in console games, Willy Beamish is let down by being far too slow (due to disc access) and sluggish to control. The lack of real interaction with the game really lets it down as well.