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Before you have a go on a Virtual Reality machine, make sure the name of the game isn't WildSide. Y'see, this particular game is a little too real. In fact, it's so real the end-of-game boss has escaped from his computer-induced confinement and is capturing all the kids who part with their cash for a taste of ultra-realistic gaming action.

This is where you, Kid Chameleon, come in to the proceedings. You just happen to be the best gamesplayer that ever there was, and you reckon that your platforming abilities are of such a high standard you can quite easily beat the game, defeat the Master Mold, rescue the kids and lavish in free credits down at the arcades any time you may wish.

1. Chaos Mask
   Special Ability: Smashing charge. The Chaos mask transmogrifies Kid into a spiky warrior of doom. He is also able to charge through walls should be build his inertia up. Don't try this on nasties though as it won't work.
2. Space Helmet
   Special Ability: Laser rifle Nab the futuristic space helmet for fun and frolics of the wide-beam laser kind. A handy helmet to have but it doesn't show up that often, so guard it with care.
3. Samurai Helmet
   Special Ability: Swordplay. Become a lethal Samurai warrior with the Japanese-style helm. Dishing out twirly sword doom is your aim, especially with your hyper-effective jumping downward thrust!
4. Armour Helmet
   Special Ability: Climbing. This helmet transforms Kid into a medieval knight-type capable, rather bizarrely, of scaling sheer walls with little difficulty.
5. Hockey Guard
   Special Ability: Axe throwing. Grabbing the hockey mask transform Kid into a Jason Vorgeese-type axe throwing psychopath! This is especially handy against projectile-firing enemies.
6. Super Helmet
   Special Ability: Speed/hurricane power. Turn yourself into a super-fast superhero with this throbbing purple helmet. It also endows you with the ability to perform hurricane jumps known for their deadlines to your enemies.
7. Death Skull
   Special Ability: Mega tank. If you've ever wanted to be a skeleton sitting in a tank which fires explosive skulls and leaps about like nobody's business, the death skull is for you. Have a care though, or your pointy-helmeted japes will meet a premature end.

You may think that there are more than enough crates around for all your bonus-taking needs. Unfortunately, you'd be hopelessly wrong. Seeing this problem, the thoughtful programmers have included a multitude of invisible boxes on every level.

The best example of these is found in a secret room on the second level. The cavern is seemingly full of boxes, but once you have destroyed them all, keep jumping. There are six more secret boxes waiting to burst open and gush forth their contents!

Dotted around the landscape at certain intervals are transporters. These are your friends, most of the time. Usually they beam you onto the next level, or past some tricky section of terrain.

However, occasionally you meet traitorous teleport units whose only pleasure in life is to send you way back into the level thus wasting precious time and forcing you to renegotiate completed scenes!

Kid might be a gamer extraordinaire, but it's likely he'd get nowhere if it were not for the query boxes spread throughout the game. These boxes contain vital code crystals which reap bonus points, extra time with which to complete the level, extra energy, bonus lives and, best of all, Chameleon Masks.

Donning these masks provide Kid with a variety of special abilities, some of which can be seen here.

Cheekily incorporating features from all sorts of different platform games, including ones starring a famous Italian plumber), Kid Chameleon is a superb looking, great sounding and highly playable platform game which suffers but one flaw - its difficulty setting.

The game is far too easy to finish. There's only one tough bit (Warrior Hill I, about six levels into the game) where it takes quite a lot of practice to get through, but once that screen is mastered, it's plain sailing all the way to the finish.

Things are helped a little by the fact that the game is so huge, has so many secret rooms, bonuses and different routes through to the end that you do keep coming back for more, but even so, it eventually becomes rather dull.

It's a shame really - has a properly graded difficulty setting been introduced into the gameplay to accompany the many brilliant touches and neat gameplay designs (I love all Kid Chameleon could well have ranked alongside Sonic and Robocod as one of the best platform games available on the Megadrive. As it stands, though, it's an enjoyable game that should appeal more to platform game beginners than out-and-out platform freaks, who just won't get their money's worth out of it.

Kid Chameleon is certainly a novel twist on the platform concept. The addition of Kid's multiple personalities certainly add to the originality and make things a bit more interesting, especially when you're searching around for the mask you need and are desperately running out of time.

The graphics are also good, with distinct and detailed sprites for each persona and some pleasing animated backgrounds. However, when it boils down to it, the action doesn't very much between levels. All that changes is the scenery, the time limit and occasionally the size of the platforms.

Kid Chameleon is very playable, but suffers from being a little easy. A bit more frenetic combat and more varied platform action would have made this a dead cert winner, but as it stands it's just a decent example of a well-exported Megadrive genre.

Presentation 80%
Nice storyline intro and title screen, plus options and intermission screens.

Graphics 86%
The cartoony sprites are small, detailed and nicely animated and the backgrounds are great.

Sound 76%
The sounds are of a fairly good quality, although the backing music itself is bland and the effects lack volume.

Playability 89%
Quite fast, certainly responsive and the multitude of headgear makes it varied and very enjoyable to start with...

Lastability 68%
...but the lack of challenge results in the game being completed fairly easily - which is a real shame.

Overall 78%
A very playable game, which could have been a classic but for a couple of flaws. Beginners will enjoy the action, but it might be too easy for seasoned platform addicts.