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Ever wonder what it would be like to live someone else's life? To have memories of events you have never experienced? If you had no memories but those of another man, how would you know if someone had stolen your mind? Confused? Arnold Schwarzenegger was, in the block busting movie of 1990.

The film goes a little like this: Arnie plays Doug Quaid, an ordinary bloke with an ordinary job. Doug gets dissatisfied with the humdrum nature of life in general, and decides it's time for a change. Instead of going on holiday like any normal human being, though, he nips down to the local branch of Rekall Inc. Rekall implant memories directly into the human mind, be it a memory of a holiday, an adventure, or even a week of carpet-laying in Grimsby...

Rekall give Arnie the memories of a heroic adventurer type, but as they implant them they discover that Schwarzzy's memory has already been wiped! Everything starts to go horribly wrong, someone tries to assassinate him, his day goes very badly and even his wife tries to bump him off!

The game scenario starts with a horizontally-scrolling platform set-up. The plot is followed well overall, but only loosely in this section. A great big bouncy Arnie sprite runs along the various levels of a complex, finding his way to each floor by means of small personnel elevators. Occasionally, Arnie comes across a nastie, such as a guard, a thug, or an assassin. These baddies can be dispatched by means of a blow from your enormous ham fists, or a bullet from the huge gun you have in your pocket. The way is often blocked by barriers and laser walls, although these can be switched off by hitting the right switches.

The object of all this running, killing and jumping is to collect five objects you will need for the rest of your mission. These are scattered in pre-determined places around the first level. You cannot leave the first section until all of these objects are safely under your belt. It sounds simple enough, but you are only given one life to complete this task, and the barrier switches have to be turned on and off in the right order, or you may find yourself trapped.

Once you have completed Level One, the action changes completely. A horizontally-scrolling screen portrays the action as you take over a "Johnny Cab", and bomb through the streets of the city, dodging or shooting any traffic unfortunate enough to get in your way. Two factors hinder your progress here; one: the fact that you are being pursued by the police force, and the other: the fact that your fuel levels are decreasing rapidly. Fuel can be topped up by shooting oil tankers as you see them, but they are generally few and far between.

Once you reach your destination, a warehouse, the action switches back to the platform set-up. You must make your way through the warehouse area, and escape to the local space port, where your ship to Mars is waiting. It is on Mars, you discover, that the answer to your memory dilemma lies. The gameplay on this level is more than a little similar to that of the last...

...and yet more deja-vu awaits you on the next screen, because it's drivey time again. This time you have to drive the cab through the caverns of Mars. The route is a little more tortuous, and therefore much more difficult this time, but frankly, it is almost identical to the second level. Your destination is a rebel hideout, buried deep within the bowels of the Martian mountains.

Once you have found your way to the rebel hideout, you land on your feet once more for the fifth and final installment of the game, and horizontally-scrolling platform fun uncannily similar to the first and third levels.

There are more switches to deal with, and a truly horrific expanse of baddie-filled maze to negotiate, with your one paltry life to see you through. Only completely hard game players will make it this far. Find the key to the heart of a vast reactor, and deal with the large number of baddies who will try to stop you. You then have to fight the big boss's henchman one-on-one on a lift heading up towards the reactor's core. And if you defeat him...? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

The graphics in Ocean's conversion of Total Recall are absolutely lovely. A big, chunky Arnie sprite runs and jumps in a most convincing manner, and the backgrounds on all levels are really nice.

Sound effects and music are both spot-on, with a remix of the film score playing on the title screen. Special mention should be given to the sexy loading screen, with a digitized piccie of Arnie, although at a very odd angle.

Although the game follows a somewhat tired formula, it is polished and exciting enough to make it rank among some of the best film tie-ins ever. A real treat, and a game no Arnie fan can afford to be without.

Excellent graphics, smooth strolling, great gameplay. Total Recall hangs together well. What's more, it's tough and challenging, so it'll keep you going for a long time too.

Get past the first level.

Graphics 89%
Lovely sprites and fabulous backgrounds suit the game perfectly.

Sonics 78%
Neat spot fx and narly tunes really help the game along.

Grab Factor 90%
Initially addictive, if a little frustrating.

Staying Power 87%
A difficult but enjoyable challenge.

Overall 91%
A mega licence! Total Recall has been very well executed and is fun to play.