GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS

 Sega's cartridge for the Genesis game system, GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS, is everything
the Nintendo version (GHOSTS 'N' GOBLINS) is not. It's addictive, graphically
and aurally stunning, and a near-perfect replica of the celebrated arcade game.
In fact, it's arguably the best game released so far for the Genesis, making the
price of the Genesis justifiable. It's truly an arcade-quality game.

 You play Sir Arthur on a mission to defeat the Prince of Darkness and,
consequently, rescue your girlfriend the Princess (presumably _not_ the Princess
of Darkness!). The Prince, in addition to his abduction of the fair lady, has
besieged the land with a plethora of monstrosities: skeletal Grim Reapers,
skull-spitting plants, beckoning tentacles from the Underworld, flame creatures,
whirling dervishes, statues with immense undulating tongues, and more.

 The world itself seems to conspire to make your job impossible: Earthquakes
tear the ground apart; thunder, rain and wind slow you down; shifting sands
threaten to engulf you; and so on. Your only protection against this onslaught
are your brittle armor (which will break from a single touch of an enemy,
leaving you to run through the game in your boxer shorts), and a solitary
weapon. Although there are six different possible weapons, you can only carry
one at a time. And you may find it's not the best weapon to defeat the creature
you're battling at the moment.

 Once you're reduced to your boxer shorts, one more touch will kill you.
Fortunately, there are treasure chests scattered throughout the game. Each chest
contains either a demon (who will turn you, temporarily, into either a hobbling
old man or -- get this -- a _duck_), or an object. The objects are either armor
or weapons. If you come across armor when you're already wearing some, the armor
you pick up will give your weapon magical properties. The magic requires a
three-second power-up, which means that it won't be of help to you if you're in
a tight spot. Fortunately, you can "build up" the magic, and hold it in while
you run and jump for a distance.

 The weapons you come across are basic sword, magical sword, axe, dagger, fire
water, and "discus" (sort of a razor-edged frisbee). The basic sword and dagger
can be thrown in quantity; the dagger flies the farthest. The axe and discus are
slower to throw, but do a lot of damage. The magical sword is extremely
powerful, but can't be thrown at all: It must be used in hand-to-hand combat.
And the firewater creates a destructive streak of blue fire along the ground --
harmless to you.

 At the end of each of the five levels (at least, five is the number they want
you to think!) is a boss monster. Some of the boss monsters can only be kill
with one of the six weapons, and it'll take you some time to figure out which
weapon is the one you need. Fortunately, most can be killed with more than one
of the weapons. Incidentally, the only time I noticed any flickering in this
game was when one of the boss monsters was exploding or otherwise succumbing to
my greater skill.

 One wonderful feature: unlimited continues, whether you're playing the Practice
mode or the Professional mode. Professional mode is supposedly as difficult as
the arcade version; the beasts are tougher and more plentiful. Other features:
two- (alternating) player mode -- despite the incorrect information on the back
of the box; sound effect tests; music tests; and the ability to turn off
diagonal movement (not a very useful option, in my opinion). The manual shows
some screen shots that were obviously changed since the publication of the game,
because they talk about options that don't exist. Like so many others, this
manual rates a "D" for Downright Poor.

 The graphics are amazing. The screens scroll upwards, downwards, sideways,
diagonally, up-and-down, and all over. Backgrounds and foregrounds move
independently, giving a cool 3-D effect that Genesis does to perfection. The
storms are particularly well done, as are the earthquakes. The sound effects and
music are just as terrific. The music sounds like a harpsichord, sinister and
silly all at the same time. The sound effects are powerful and some are
incredibly realistic (especially the clank of the guillotine blades).

 GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS is a must-have for all Genesis owners. And if you've only
seen the Nintendo version, you might want to avoid ever looking at the Genes
GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS: You may never turn on your Nintendo again.

 GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS is published and distributed by Sega, Inc.

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