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Take a trip to the future, if you will and participate in the 21st century's equivalent to the Noel Edmonds' whirly-wheeler - Fatal Rewind. In this time, blood lust equals high viewing figures. For the contestants themselves, driven by poverty into taking part, the rewards are high - but the stakes are higher. Perform well in Fatal Rewind and you're rewarded with a bit fat pile of lovely cash. The key is to survive - and thus entertain. If you die... well, that's life isn't it? Or rather not, as the case may be.

The general format of the game is remarkably simple. The contestant, encased in a robotic shell, travels around the eight-way scrolling platform landscape. His objective is simply to reach the exit far above. To achieve this end, he uses the robot's spider-like abilities to scale walls and jump platforms. Attack waves are materialised into the playing area to increase problems, but a few shots of the robot's in-built cannon should be enough to see them off. But the real problem is caused by the vast amounts of deadly acid being pumped into the Fatal Rewind arena. So it's a race against time to get to the next level before the one you're on fills up and dissolves you alive.

As you progress into this killing game show, the odds that you'll live diminish dramatically. Can you survive the growing intelligence of the attack drones and the ever-increasing acid level? Play Fatal Rewind and find out!

Along with interesting weapons, some very curious items are dotted around each stage of Fatal Rewind. Perhaps the most helpful are the extra energy icons, which should be activated at times of fire need in order to regain some vital energy.

Also available are mysterious items like The Oracle (which seems to just waste a lot of time). A device is also available which, when activated, temporarily stops the flow of acid being pumped into the Fatal Rewind studio.

Reaching the higher levels of each stage is made all the more difficult by the inclusion of locked doors. Your robot can only conquer this hazard by loacting the suitable key. To make matters a little more tolerable, the shape of the keyhole makes choosing the correct key a lot easier.

For example, if there's a big triangular keyhole, grabbing hold of a triangle-shaped key would be the clever thing to do.

The main problems occur when the Fatal Rewind authorities beam in some enemy drones to cause you some problems. The longer you stay in the game, the deadlier they become.

The first few waves are incredibly easy to destroy, but later waves adopt more intricate attack patterns and appear in larger numbers. Destroy a complete attack wave and 1,000 points are yours, as well as a precious energy-giving icon.

1. Side-Shot Vertical shots are added to your robot's armoury, destroying enemy drones on contact! Very useful in the early stages.

2. Laser Normal shots are absorbed on their first target. This cuts through enemies like a hot knife through butter.

3. Spread Fire Similar to the side-shot, but directs more bolts in the general direction your robot is facing.

4. Rockets Unfortunately, these suckers don't home in on targets. However, this weapon is one of the most powerful in the whole game!

5. Freeze Use this when the going gets tough to freeze the ever-rising tide of acid! Watch out though, it can only be used a few times!

Should you meet with an untimely doom, you are automatically given a replay of your antics, starting from the beginning of that level until your eventual destruction. However, with a stab of just one button you can stop the Fatal Rewind and carry on at the point of your choice.

Should you completely muck up the level, you can play from the beginning should you so wish.

I really enjoyed playing the Amiga version of this (which was called Killing Game Show), and am pleased to see that all its challenge and appeal have been captured in this Megadrive conversion.

The graphics are varied in quality (the main sprite is brilliant, the enemies are unimaginative and simplistic and the backdrops range from good to excellent) and the sound is rather non-rescript, but it's the gameplay where Fatal Rewind is strongest.

Finding the right route around each level takes plenty of practice, and mapping as you go certainly helps, expecially when you consider that there are sixteen different pits of death, each with either two or three sub-levels to memorise!

The action is fast and furious, and you really have to think on your feet to blast everything that gets in your way and keep out of the ever-rising acid!

It's a totally frantic and occasionally frustrating game, but it kept me going back to the Megadrive time and time again. I can see that some players might find the sheer pace a little too relentless and unforgiving to be enjoyable, but if like me you're a fan of very challenging, fast and furious arcade-style games which require lightning reflexes and rapid reactions, this is a game you should definitely get for your collection.

Fatal Rewind is practically identical to the Amiga Killing Game Show, and I was a mite cynical of the game's merits when I first gave it a whirl. Luckily, my skepticism proved to be completely unfounded.

Fatal Rewind is a great, very challenging game indeed, with some great graphical effects and varied levels. Whilst a lot of Megadrive games these days are completed within a few days, Fatal Rewind offers loads of challenge in all sixteen of its levels.

There are only a few niggles that stop it from receiving Megagame status. First of all, I'd like to meet the person who made UP on the joypad perform the same function as the jump button. In the heat of battle, the amount of times you jump because you accidentally push UP on the pad is unbelievable. What's the point when one of the buttons does the same thing?!

Why not have different configurations of joypad controls on the options screen? I also found the unforgiving gameplay very frustrating. Completing the level isn't reliant on skill so much as remembering where the keys are. But still, apart from those minor grumbles, Fatal Rewind is still a very good blast-'em-up, well worth investing your pounds sterling in.

Presentation 88%
Plenty of options that let you tweak the gameplay, although dodgy the control method is very annoying indeed.

Graphics 90%
Finely detailed, smooth, parallax-scrolling backdrops and superb sprites.

Sound 81%
Some good tunes on offer here, along with good effects.

Playability 84%
Fatal Rewind is great to play from the word go and the compulsion ot see the next level is strong.

Lastability 82%
Sixteen very long, very hard levels, each with at least two sub-levels to conquer - not a game you'll beat overnight.

Overall 83%
A rewarding, challenging shoot-'em-up with only minor faults stopping it from getting a higher mark.