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All hell has broken loose in Fantasy Land, where once again the forces of darkness (headed up by the despicable Evil Overlord) have risen up from the depths of Hades to give the living a bit of a bad time. At this moment, undead legions march across the pleasant lands, dishing out generous lashings of death and destruction wherever they go - and having a great deal of fun into the bargain.

Only one person is hard enough to launch a counterattack against the rampaging legions of doom, and that someone is the eponymous Alisia Dragoon! She's probably the hardest girl in the known world, known for her thunderous magical bolt-throwing abilities and her strange relationship with dragonkind.

It's her task to travel through the eight-way scrolling levels, using her magical abilities to beat up any undead minions who cross her path. Alisia can also call upon the terrifying capabilities of four different dragons she has befriended to cause yet more havoc.

You'd think that the Evil Overlord would be quaking in his boots at the sight of Alisia Dragoon dusting all of his undead slaves, but he might just have the last laught. Using all of his incredible cunning, he's positioned evil creatures of vast power at the various points in each level. Only by defeating all of them does Alisia have a chance against the Overlord himself!

Alisia's principal weapon against the legions of foul creatures is a homing lightning beam of doom. As long as Alisia is pointing roughly in the right direction, a simple button press is enough to dispatch a whole attack wave!

The lightning power is measured on a meter at the top of the screen. Leave it to build up to its highest point and an incredible thunder smart bomb is unleashed with but one press of your B button!

Loads of secret rooms are dotted throughout each level, but the programmers haven't made them easy to find. Quite literally, you have to attempt to walk or even jump through walls! Should you succeed and find one of these rooms, you are instantly presented with loads of power-up icons. Sometimes the entrance to one secret room is actually located in another, so keep looking!

Plenty of boss-like creatures infest the platform levels of Alisia Dragoon. The first is encountered at the end of stage one. Two giant zombies, endowed with bolt-throwing and teleporting abilities gang up on young Alisia and absorb many of the heroine's lightning bolts before their eventual demise.

The pace doesn't let up on level two, where you're immediately attacked by a vicious serpent that leaps out of the water straight at you!

If you're after powering up or regaining lost energy, keep a look out for the floating icon containers. Simply unleash some lightning on them and they soon drop their load, which could be magical power-ups for your lightning beam or a jazzy upgrade for your dragon's firepower.

At the beginning, I thought that the homing lightning beam would make this too easy, but as soon as I reached the end-of-level boss, my preconceptions were horribly dashed. Alisia Dragoon is a tough mother of game, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you in an attempt to end your game!

In fact, conserving enough energy for your confrontation with the first boss is quite a task. Normally, this sort of caper puts me off, but the gameplay isn't all that frustrating - apart from when you continue, where you are mercilessly put back to the beginning of the level (argghh!).

There are plenty of original ideas in here too, like having to look after the four different dragons and power them up individually. Graphically, Alisia Dragoon is tops with plenty of variety between each level and some beautiful sprites and amazing backdrops.

Put simply, Alisia Dragoon is a quality package, with enough challenge to keep you coming back for more for quite a long time.

This is what Turrican should have been! Alisia Dragoon is an excellent platform-based blaster and sports challenging gameplay and some pretty unusual features.

Although it doesn't seem like it at first, the different dragons are very useful, especially on later levels where they can be used tactically to make the going easier.

Another neat feature is that the game is packed with secret screens and bonuses which, when combined with the tough gameplay, results in plenty of long-lasting appeal.

With its excellent graphics and sound, Alisia Dragoon is a game that's highly recommended to shoot-'em-up and platform addicts alike!

Presentation 85%
A few options to tweak, including alternative control methods, and a decent feel to the game itself.

Graphics 92%
Gorgeous, exquisite backdrops and character graphics. A visual feast!

Sound 84%
Some up-tempo tunes back the proceedings and there's some great blasting effects too.

Playability 88%
The simple nature of the gameplay makes this easily accessible...

Lastability 86%
...and the well-balanced difficulty level makes this one that should keep you well occupied for a few weeks.

Overall 87%
A good fusion of platform and shoot-'em-up elements make for an absorbing, challenging game.