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A message is received over the emergency frequency. "Lt. Snake," it says, "the enemy have a new weapon with which to crush our defences. It's the Metal Gear II, an upgrade of the deadly killer war robot you destroyed three years ago in your last flick-screen arcade action game. Your mission is to attempt a sabotage operation in the same style as your last.

Sneak in under cover of darkness, explore the four-way flick screen environment for hostages, rations, ammunition and equipment. Then you must break into the heavily guarded maximum security base in which the Metal Gear project is housed, destroy the prototype and demolish the base so no further evil mechanoids can ever terrorise the peace-loving populace of our country."

Never being one to disobey orders, you recruit two crack soldiers and set off deep into enemy territory to put an end to their vile plans of conquest once and for all.

At the start of his adventure, Lieutenant Solid Snake is equipped only with a knife, a handgun and a small number of bullets. However, after exploring only a few screens, Snake makes his first discovery - a pack of rations which restore his energy.

Up to three of these packs can be held by Snake at any one time, meaning he should never be at a loss for lives. Other collectables include ammo crates providing up to fifty shots for Snake's pistol and a number of extra weapons, including a fantastic death-dealing machine gun!

As a bit of insurance against an untoward disaster, Snake has brought a couple of hard military specialists along with him. John Turner is a communications expert who comes in handy at code-breaking duties and such. His other deputy is Nick Myer, an explosives disposal and demolitions boffin. When it comes to blowing up big targets and generally causing mass destruction, Nick is the man to talk to.

Since Snake is supposed to be conducting his mission in secret, it's obviously conducted at night. However, the enemy are aware of his presence (the huge body count possibly has something to do with this) and have set up a number of ways to find him.

If there is a patrol on-screen, the area becomes fully lit. On some screens, flares are launched to illuminate the area. It is up to Snake to find his way through the screen in darkness before the flare reveals his presence.

Other screens are lit with searchlights. These sweep across the screen lighting up a small area at a time, which makes it easier for Snake to find his way about.

On paper, Snake's Revenge looks like it could be one hell of a game. In reality it's unfortunately a big disappointment.

Not only are the controls irritating (to say the least!) but there's very little variety in the gameplay, and what could have been an exciting, action-packed mission quickly becomes a tedious chore.

The dreadful graphics and sound bang the final nails in the coffin, and the end result is a very poor exploration/combat game which you end up thinking could have been so much better.

Just when you thought Metal Gear was the worst example of this type of game on the NES, along comes the sequel, determined to outdo its predecessor in every respect - including that of being miserably dull and tedious.

The main fault lies in the control method. Snake is sadly incapable of moving in a diagonal direction. This might not sound so bad, but when there are three or four enemies who just sit where they are and shoot at you without fear of retaliation (unless you spend all day charging around the screen) it gets more than a tad annoying.

The gameplay is also very repetitive. There's little difference between each screen either graphically or gameplay-wise. The graphics themselves are very disappointing. The sprites are malformed and indistinct and the backgrounds are all pretty much the same within each level.

The ropey collision detection doesn't add to the playability of the title either. To thing you could get Mario 3 for the same money...!

Presentation 73%
Password system and weak intro screens but very little else.

Graphics 42%
Crude, badly animated sprites and bland backdrops.

Sound 32%
A hideous twisted mutation of a tune and truly sorry effects.

Playability 41%
There's not really much to it, plus it's very repetitive and the controls are annoying.

Lastability 40%
The infinite continues and lack of challenge coupled with the frustrating gameplay ward you off very quickly.

Overall 43%
Could have been brilliant, but Snake's Revenge is instead an irritating and boring exploration game which falls far short of its potential.