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The evil Professor Elvin Atombender has hacked into defence computers around the world and unless he's paid an enormous ransom within 12 hours will launch all nuclear missiles and obliterate humankind. Sounds like it's time to call Special Agent 4125 to sort out the situation. But remember - the clock is ticking...

The world-saving mission involves penetrating Atombender's 32-room underground bunker and tracking him down before he destroys the world. Simple? No chance - the place is riddled with robot defence systems who are alerted to Agent 4125's presence and are out for his blood. If 4125 touches a robot or is caught by the electric bolts they fire, he's stunned and ten minutes is knocked off the timer.

Atombender is locked behind steel doors in one of the rooms, and to enter 4125 must find and assemble a secret codeword from a microfilm. Evil villain that he is, Atombender has shredded the microfilm into 32 pieces and hidden them all over the bunker, so 4125 has to search all the furnishings in the place to find the pieces of film.

Once all the pieces of film have been collected, 4125 has to assemble them together to obtain the password - and then he can open the door and give Atombender a good kicking.

Once all the film pieces have been collected, 4125 has to assemble them together to form an 8-letter password. Each letter is obtained by overlaying four matching microfilm pieces to make a solid rectangle. This is tricky since the pieces are all jumbled when they're collected, and have to be rotated to fit together! It takes quite some time to solve the puzzle - so make sure you leave yourself enough time to do it and get to Atombender's lair!

Agent 4125 is a very athletic hero - he can run at speed and somersault, which is very useful for vaulting over robots without touching them, or to a higher platform. He can fall any distance on a screen, but if he falls into a hole at the bottom of the screen, ten minutes is knocked off the timer as he climbs back out.

Every time 4125 is touched by a robot, or gets hit by an electric bolt, ten minutes is knocked off the timer. This might not sound like much at first - but those minutes quickly mount up as you explore the bunker, and before you know it, twelve hours are up and your mission is a failure.

As well as finding microfilm pieces, there are also robot snooze and lift reset pass cards. The snooze disables all the robots for a limited period of time, and the lift reset returns all lifts in the room to their original position - useful if you've got yourself stranded on a high platform. To get them to work you have to log onto one of the computer terminals that are found in each room, and enter the snooze or lift reset pass cards. Easy, eh?

The robots in the bunker all follow preset patrol patterns - some are stupid and just patrol a set course no matter what happens - others follow 4125, or chase after him once he's spotted. Make sure you study the robots when you enter the room so at least you can predict what they're likely to do.

Impossible Mission is one of my all-time favourite games - its excellent graphics (check out the amazing animation on Agent 4125 and the robots) and superb sound effects (including sampled speech!) gives it a fabulous atmosphere. The gameplay is simply brilliant, testing your reflexes to their utmost as you leap and run around trying to avoid the robots, then requiring brain power to piece together the microfilm. It's certainly a tough game, but even if you do complete it, because the game is different every time you play it, you can keep on coming back for more. If you want to play one of the best games available for the Sega, look no further that Impossible Mission.

Impossible Mission is one of the best games to date on the Sega. The graphics are bright, robust and colourful, and extremely well animated - 4125 runs, leaps and somersaults like an Olympic champion. The sound fits the bill perfectly, with buzzing robots, Atombender's taunts and the nerve-shattering scream as 4125 plummets to his doom. Overall, IM has just the right mixture of arcade action and puzzle-solving elements to ensure that once you start, you won't put it down until you've completed it. An essential purchase, and recommended without hesitation.

Presentation 83%
Superb on-screen presentation, but no options.

Graphics 91%
Atmospheric backdrops and superbly animated sprites.

Sound 89%
Sampled speech and great spot effects.

Playability 97%
Incredibly addictive from the word go!

Lastability 92%
Since it's different each time you play the challenge is always fresh.

Overall 94%
An utterly superb game that simply oozes class. Don't miss it under any circumstances.