This site now works really well for me using Windows 10 and Chrome browser when I use the popout window option. For some reason it still insists I don't have the current version of the RGR Plugin installed when I try to play the games within the window, but that doesn't matter anymore, so thankyou.

The only slight issue I have is regarding the fullscreen mode of the N64 emulators. I can get all the emulators for the other game systems to go fullscreen properly with no problems, but not the N64 ones. It does attempt to go fullscreen, but goes so large that only the top left portion of the game window can be viewed, and if I click anything to try and resize the popout window then it goes back to not being fullscreen mode. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

My first memories of Myst were not the usual fond ones that you have, as there was no overflowing nostalgia regarding endless hours of fun I had put in to a game as a child. Instead, there is a game that I didn't fully understand at the time, probably because it was one of the first games of its era to be targeted towards adults. This targeting, combined with the fact that it is one of the most challenging games that you will ever play, means that I got stuck and gave up pretty quickly every time I gave it a go, but have found a new love for it now that I am older, finally getting to play it as the stimulating adventure puzzle game for adults that the developers intended. Myst was designed by two brothers, Robyn and Rand Miller, who were way ahead of their time in producing an open-world exploration role-playing style game a non-linear storyline, like so many successful modern games try to achieve over 20 years later!

So, the game itself. After spending half my adult life playing games like Oblivion and Skyrim, where you have an open world to explore, but still have 'quest trackers' to helpfully light up your way to the next quest target, I found myself pleasantly lost when starting the game. This is the most realistic you could possibly make a game. If you literally found a book and travelled through it to a MYST-erious place and didn't know where you were, then you would have as much knowledge as you do starting out in this game. You would also be limited in gaining further knowledge by exploring every single part of the island, reading books and notes and picking up clues, again as your character has to do in this game. Some may find this level of realism taxing, as if it would be difficult to do in real life then why would I want to spend my relaxing gaming time giving myself a headache trying to figure out all these clues? The answer to that is because the game allows you to not only explore an island in a realistic manner, but it also then draws upon and tests your mental skills without any aid. This makes the challenge rather personal and a lot more fun!

The ability to fully immerse the player within this fantastical world is one of the major strengths of this game, exploring it as the 'Stranger', so named I believe so that you can project your own mental image and personality onto the character, drawing you further into the game. The background story, as told by a short but informative intro, is that you have found a book which allows you to travel to the starting  island of Myst. The premise of the overall story is that you have to solve a number of complex puzzles in order to keep progressing through the game, eventually travelling to other worlds, known as 'Ages' (good luck with that, you're going to need it!). Most of the story is revealed though as you play the game. This is intentional to add to the mystery of the game and provide the reasoning for your exploration. It also means you have no directions, goals or objectives to start you off (such is life).

You can explore Myst from a first-person perspective by simply clicking any part of the world in which you wish to move or inspect more closely, or by dragging certain objects around. Although you don't have a proper inventory, you can pick some items up and carry them with you, though this is limited. For example, you can only carry one page of a book with you at any time. If you find something else you would rather carry, then dropping your existing page will return it to its original location. If you need to get somewhere quickly that you have already explored then there is a handy 'zip' feature, represented by a lightning bolt, which allows you to fast travel to that location. The pages you find are part of various books, some of which allow you to travel to the different Ages of Selenitic, Mechanical, Stoneship and Channelwood in the same manner in which you originally travelled to the Myst island. It is often the case that you may find a number of clues for solving the puzzles in one Age, within another Age. While aimed at adults, the game may also be played by younger people if they have the abilities to logically work out the clues. There is no chance of dying in the game and you do not have to fight enemies, making it purely a test of your mental skills.

Graphics: 9
One of the things that people remember most about Myst was exploring this beautiful world, where many small details had been accounted for, to make it as realistic as possible. The developers also managed to use Quicktime, a brand new feature at the time, to get video functionality into the game, so that you can have one-way video communication that developed the storyline of the game. Overall the graphics of Myst were considered years ahead of their time when the game was released.

Sound: 7
There isn't much to write home about regarding the sounds of the game, as you largely explore the world with ambient music playing in the background. You do get a cool little intro video with some good music that makes you feel like it is the start of a film, with you as the main character. The sound effects are appropriate when required, like the sounds of the sea and docks when you are in that area, or the mechanical functioning of the many pieces of technology that you have to interact with. For some people the main effect that the music and sounds now have is nostalgic, taking them back to the many hours they spent eagerly exploring the world of Myst. You can even get a soundtrack CD of the synthesized music that the developers made for the game.

Addictiveness: 8
This game is very addictive and frustrating in equal measure. It requires you to have patience to figure out the clues from your exploration, though sometimes this can make you feel lost. So really the addictiveness of the game depends upon the personality of the player, in the same way that your ability to progress through the game also relies upon your innate abilities to work out the clues. This makes it a very personal game and you can see why it was the biggest selling PC game of the 1990's.

Story: 8
The story is brilliant as it develops as you play the game, containing multiple possible endings, depending upon the choices the character makes. Some people felt that the game was creepy because of the feeling of isolation it gave, which only serves to highlight the brilliance of the developers in drawing in the player so much that they feel they are on an emotional journey throughout the game.

Depth: 8
There are many hours of gameplay within this game, again depending on your ability solve the riddles and puzzles. The story itself is of high quality, as you would expect with a non-linear storytelling game.

Difficulty: 10
This is one of the most difficult games I have ever played and is considered by many to be one of the most challenging games of all time, with many players remembering not only the fond memeroies of the game, but also quitting in frustration (as I did myself many years ago!).

Overall: 9
This game is considered one of the defining games of its time, helping to drive PC game sales and shaped the future and standard of many games, not just the 'Myst clones' that flooded the market following this game's success. Nothing can quite match the sense of accomplishment that you get from solving the difficult puzzles within the game and if you make it right through to the end on your own, with no outside help, then you can pretty much consider yourself a genius.

The site looks great but I am having the same issues as those described above, it says I need the latest version of the RGR Plugin, which I have, so does not let me play any of the games.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was the very first game I owned for the Sega Master System by virtue of the fact that it came already built into my console. In this game you play the role of the legendary Alex Kidd who seems to get himself in all sorts of trouble on various worlds, this time in Miracle World a.k.a. the planet Aries, where Alex is minding his own business and learning to become the hardest hitting puncher on the planet, when his life is turned upside down. Alex receives the news that people are being turned to stone and his home town is under attack and the only way he can defeat the bad guys (including rather vicious fish) is by punching everyone in the face... or failing that beating them at a game of good ol' rock, paper, scissors, which when won makes the bad guys explode in a puff of smoke and/or release their heads to fly at you. The end of level bad guys, called Paperhead, Rockhead and (you guessed it) Scissorshead were a taste of what was waiting for you with the final bad guy. You could use a crystal  ball item to catch a glimpse of what the opponent was going to choose, but in later levels they would swap this at the last moment, so you had to be quick on the buttons!!

The end of game bad guy, Janken (named after the great paper,rock, scissors game), has his own cool castle which has lots of fiendish rooms for you to make your way through. There is one particular bit where you have to swim underwater past these spiky things... and I simply cannot do it. No matter how many lives I have up until this point, I have never gotten out of this room. This is because while you are not moving underwater Alex likes to float upwards, meaning you have to always be pressing down and a direction to swim, something I seem incapable of achieving (just ask my broken controllers). My brother just swims straight past them as if they weren't even there.

On his journey Alex is able to purchase many cool items from the shops at the start of the level, including a motorbike which definitely speeds things up, as well as various other gadgets that he can deploy at any time to rid the world of enemies. This is basically a really nice and fun platform game where you get to punch lots of things in the face, like scorpions and frogs. This was Alex Kidd's first adventure and although the game itself struggled to compete at the time with the more popular Super Mario Bros on the NES, this is still a classic. You will need some precision jumping skills, usually with a run up,... or just buy one of those cool pedal-powered helicopters that lets you fly and shoot your way through the level, if you have enough cash of course. Try not to be tempted by the extra bags of cash dotted around the level, unless you really do have extreme precision flying, motorbike riding or jumping skills to skim across the waves, pop up just beneath the deadly rocks that will drop you into the sea, or can leap tall rock piles in a single bound. At least you get to sit and eat a rice ball and look at a colourful map of your journey between levels.

The castle levels bring an extra excitement to the game. Not only are they huge and full of unique fiendish puzzles to solve, but they also have their own cool theme music. In the overall game, it's great when you find a box with a question mark on it and you pray that it's a ring, rather than a ghost, which would mean you have to suddenly speed up in order to push the ghost out of the edge of the screen before it kills you. You may find a power ring which lets you shoot laser beams from your over-sized fist, or even an extra life. When you do fall in the water you turn into what sort of looks like a half-merman mutant thing which has two mini tentacles (i'm assuming legs) powering you through the water. The music also changes to more mellow tones below the waves, though look out for giant frog people who apparently blow killer bubbles. Oh yeah, and that angry looking octopus sitting on an underwater honey pot. I still have no idea what that round orange thing is with what looks like little blue wings, but appears to have a human face and a black moustache? Or the green cabbage thing in the caves level that appears to be angrily shaking its fists in the air as it attacks you? You do get to drive a speedboat at one point, but really it's easy to drop below the waves to avoid other creatures, such as the end of level warthog or the samurai bear.

Alex Kidd never did manage to go head-to-head with the Super Mario Bros, as some expected, and even hardcore fans of the franchise will acknowledge that Sonic the Hedgehog became the face of Sega, rather than little Alex Kidd. It still remains one of the most popular and memorable games for though.

Graphics: 8
This game is still beautiful today, with colourful and vibrant graphics. All the characters have giant heads and the various animals appear to be the same size as Alex, but hey when Alex punches his fist is also the same size as his head, so it evens itself up.

Sound: 7
There is general upbeat background music playing throughout the levels which is a nice 8-bit track to listen to. The boss battles and end game castle both have different music, letting you know that you are in a special situation, which is a nice touch. The sound effects are also pretty cool.

Addictiveness: 6
It can be both addictive and frustrating. Once you have completed the game there is not much need to replay it, except for nostalgia's sake. But while you are trying to complete the game, and learning from your mistake, it can be quite addictive and give a sense of satisfaction to get further than you did before.

Story: 7
It actually has a back story and your quest has a purpose, so that's good, though obviously it doesn't go into great detail as it is essentially just a platform game.

Depth: 8
The game is one of the larger ones for the Sega Master System, comprising of 17 different levels, plenty of mid-stage bosses, an end game boss, lots of varied things to buy in the shops and loads of strategic jumping around and punching to keep you busy. 

Difficulty: 9
I havn't only given this a nine difficulty rating just for the awkward way of swimming (and those dreaded underwater spiky things that foiled all my attempts at completing the game) but also because it's a pretty difficult game to master in general! If you get hit once, you lose a life. Fall in a river? Lose a life. Touch a spike? Lose a life. Touch an enemy? Lose a life. It is so easy to die in Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Alex runs very quickly, jumps to varying heights according to speed, floats upwards when underwater, ride a helicopter that sinks if not pedalled and rides a motorcycle that more often than not ends up in the water! Touch anything bad in your vehicle? It explodes and disappears, no cash refund. And once you have finally mastered the jumping and swimming techniques, you had better start praying for luck in the rock, paper, scissor battles!

Overall: 8
Definitely one of the better games for the Sega Master System and easily the best Alex Kidd game, give this one a try and see how long it takes you to complete it. And if you get past that tricky underwater spiky bit, please send me tips on how you did it (I feel betrayed by my fingers and thumbs).

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I hate asking for Viz, but I really would like to get the V Machine CD and the Playstation Item from the store, possibly the Netplay Item too as that sounds fun, though I don't fully understand how it works yet.

I did all the recommended promotions of the site to earn Viz and as you can see from my profile I have been writing quality lengthy reviews for different games to help the site out, which is something I will continue to do, I would just also like to actually play the Playstation games in between writing reviews, which i can't currently do, and play the other games without draining my Viz.

So I would be very grateful for any donations, or even loans, which I can pay back after I have completed more reviews in the coming weeks. Thankyou.

It's not easy to churn out another game in a popular franchise and keep the fans happy, but Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was the one where it all finally came together, making the previous two incarnations of this game appear amateurish in comparison.

In this game you are a skateboarder. You can choose from any of the famous faces from the skateboarding world, such as Geoff Rowley, Steve Caballero and Bucky Lasek (as well as Tony Hawk himself of course). You can even play as Bam Margera from the TV show Jackass. Alternatively you can create your own character in the create-a-skater mode, choosing your own clothes, hair and style with loads of accessories to choose from, including tattoos, skate pads and jewellery. Each level has different objectives that you need to achieve to unlock the next level. These can be as simple as performing enough tricks to get a high score, or slightly more difficult when you have to skate around the park and trigger certain events to happen or leap ridiculously high in the air. These also open up new items in the create-a-skater shop. There is also a create-a-skate park mode where you can build your own dream skate park.

The game mechanics allow you to perform many tricks together, meaning you could theoretically do tricks for the entire duration of each level, linking from one to another. As your character progresses you are also awarded stat points which you can distribute on a variety of skills, such as speed, rail balancing and air time, to either specialise or round out your skater's abilities, depending on your own style of play. In reality what you will find is that there is never enough time on each run to complete all the objectives of a level, so you will have to do multiple runs to complete all the goals, possibly many runs to achieve the more difficult ones. i would often spend one run just finding a good spot to link all my combo moves together to achieve the highest score I possibly could, and then spend future runs moving on to a new objective. It has a multiplayer mode and a good thing to keep in mind is that if you are about to collide with another skater then the person who is going the slowest is the one that will be knocked down!

The game levels themselves are large enough to stay interesting on many runs and you can interact with pretty much every part of the level. As you complete objectives you will sometimes be rewarded with a cut scene showing what you have achieved, for example dumping snow on a bully. There's a hidden videotape on every normal level and you must collect the letters that make up the word SKATE in every level too, as part of the nine objectives for each level. Every normal level also holds five extra stat points plus a new deck. There are also three competition levels where you simply have to score as many points as you can in a one minute run in order to try and earn a gold medal. Trust me when I say that you will want to do as many runs as possible to get the stat points from the early levels, as the tricks required to achieve the objectives in later levels will be too difficult to achieve if you have not made your skater as awesome as possible!

There's many videos to unlock within the game, including footage of pro skaters pulling off tricks, or failing dramatically. If you need to practice your skills before entering the career mode then you can choose to simply skate around any of the parks, either with no time limit, or with a two-minute timer and the game keeping track of any records you may set for that level. If you are a complete beginner then there is a great tutorial which teaches you the basics of the game mechanics. If you choose to do career mode and complete every objective with one skater then you will be rewarded with extra items, whether it's a hidden skater, secret level or a cheat mode.
The game just feels great to play. When you are picking up speed (and points) coming down a ramp and you hit a manual and then rail grind, hop to a different rail, back to manual and then keep this up for as long as you possibly can, it feels awesome! The points multiplier increases with each new move switch, allowing you to post some monster scores.

Graphics: 9
This game looks amazing and plays well with very few glitches. It makes great use of draw distance to allow you to plan out your upcoming tricks, which are performed with smooth animations. The levels are colourful and have plenty of detail in them. Overall the graphics help the game feel realistic, especially when you fall over and your blood is suddenly streaked across the road.

Sound: 10
If I could give the sound effects and soundtrack for this game a score higher than 10 out of 10 then I would!! It has a great mix of songs that fit perfectly well into the skate scene and which I still listen to now on my personal music playlists. The game helps you associate great feelings of fun and achievement with each of the songs. You can even turn off some of the tracks if you don't like them. The sound effects are perfect for every action, whether it's the type of ground you are skating over, or crashing into a person. The sound of skating itself is replicated to absolute perfection. You can even cause onlookers to praise your skills by pulling off an awesome move in front of them!

Addictiveness: 8
With all the objectives and secret items to unlock and multiplayer modes and new high scores to set, this is one of the most addictive games I have played. It has infinite replayability and my copy of the game still gets played to this day.

Story: 7
The story in Tony Hawk 3 is a personal one. It is the story of you starting out in career mode as an average skater, building up your skills and experience to become a skating legend.

Depth: 7
This game is everything you could want and hope for from a skating game, especially the relatively large levels that have plenty to do and offer lots of replayability.

Difficulty: 7
There are so many individual tricks, which then lead on to almost infinite potential combos, that you will probably only master half of them, if that. Some of the objectives within the levels can be difficult to achieve, though this can be made easier by increasing the stats of your skater.

Overall: 8
This is the best skateboarding game I have ever played and is still a lot of fun today.

Rampart cleverly combines many different aspects that I love in a game, with base building, Missile Command style attack cannons and Tetris style repair methods. In this game you are attempting to build and defend your base fort against nefarious sea invaders who will shoot their boat cannons at your walls and try to land their soldiers to capture your base.

The game is played in rounds and in between each round you get to repair your walls with Tetris style brick shapes, attempting to create a completely enclosed space, preferably with enough squares to fit some cannons in to shoot back at the invading horde. If you fail to completely enclose one of the three castles on your stretch of land then you lose a life. It feels horrible when the timer is ticking down and you just can't get the correct shape of wall you need to fill in that tiny gap, but then feels amazing when (with one second to go) it appears and you punch the air as your flag is raised once more above your castle!

The invading army includes ships that fire normal cannons to knock your walls down, as well as fire ships which should be the first ones you take out because when their shot hits the land then it leaves a scorched hole which you cannot build over in the repair phase. This then makes the later rounds difficult as you struggle to maintain and expand your base. You need four mini squares together to place a cannon, so if they take out the land you may become helpless to fire back. Any cannons that you have previously placed that are not now surrounded by a complete wall will not fire in the next round. When trying to take out the enemy ships it may be useful to remember that there is quite a fast pace to this game and you may wish to shoot where you think the enemy fleet is going, rather than where it currently is, so that by the time your cannonball has flew across the screen it does not just drop into the sea.

The invading armada may also land soldiers when they reach the shoreline who hamper your attempt to place walls (though if you encircle them within your repairs then they are satisfyingly destroyed). If you don't manage to kill these horrible people in time then they will burn down your lovely castle!!

Rampart is a perfect blend of shoot-em-up and a puzzle game, with a little bit of war games thrown in too. It has a lot of action and is really easy to learn, but difficult to master. To beat this game you will need to use a strategy that makes best use of the starting locations of your forts, integrates the most amount of space for your cannons, takes out ships in priority order and repairs everything very quickly within the short time allowed, expanding where possible. The more rounds you get through and the more area you manage to capture then the more points you earn.
Rampart also has a fantastic multiplayer option where, instead of taking on a fleet of ships, you take on an opponent on an opposite stretch of land, with both of you attempting to shoot out each other's walls. This can also become quite strategic, as you know that they will be struggling to fit in the same shape wall sections as you, so you can be really mean and blow out odd shaped sections of their wall that require them to have the right piece to fill the gap [insert evil laugh].

As a rough guide, the ships with a single sail are the weakest, and they will fire normal cannonballs at your walls, you can take them out with two hits from your own cannons. Ships with two sails are slightly tougher, requiring three hits from your cannons. The red fire ships are evil and the shoot fireballs which scorch the ground and take three full rounds before the scorch marks disappear, as well as taking 5 hits from your own cannons to destroy them. Some of the later rounds have darker versions of these ships which will require one extra hit from your cannon to send them to the icy depths.

Graphics: 6
The graphics are basic but in line with what the game is about, which is playability. The play screen itself is deliberately blocky as that is part of the mechanics of the game, so you can see where to place your wall sections. Overall it is colourful and works well.

Sound: 8
The sounds are perfectly set to increase your excitement when you finally close the walls around a base, get your flag raised and hear the satisfying tune that signifies you have expanded your territory (or simply survived to see another round of fighting). There is a little tune that plays, but let's face it, we aren't here for the music with this one.

Addictiveness: 8
This game can become addictive due to the excellent difficulty progression and the randomness in the shape of the wall parts that you are given to build your base. The multiplayer is also a great touch as you wage war upon your friends!

Story: 3
There is no story, but then there's no real story in the style of games it is based upon, whether it's a conquest style game or a puzzle one like Tetris, they are fun to play regardless.

Depth: 5
Apart from trying to survive the later rounds after you have took many beatings from ships in the previous round, there's not a great deal of depth to this game.

Difficulty: 8
The brilliant thing about this game is that, while the later rounds have more ships (especially those dreaded fire ships) the difficulty also depends upon your own skill in the previous rounds, as this then determines your ability to deal with the later enemies.

Overall: 8
This game is so much fun, definitely worth a couple hours of your time.

I have sent the 5000 Viz and intend to write game reviews

Pitfighter was the very first fighting game I played. I had spent a few hours on the coin-operated arcade version with amazing graphics and was very excited when I found this version for the Sega Master System sitting on the shelves of my local video game store.

As far as fighting games go, this is your basic punch-and-kick-fest, with each character having slightly different special moves. Buzz is your generic big-built wrestling style character, Ty is your agile kickboxer and Kato is a karate black belt who throws awesome palm punches to the face.  In addition to your dangerous body parts, you can use many objects that you find littered around the fighting arena, including knives, crates and even a motorbike! Also keep an eye out for the 'Power Pill' that will temporarily increase the power of your character and be aware of the crowd, who may decide from time to time to randomly join in the fight, attempting to stab your character (tough crowd).

Every few fights you compete in a 'Grudge Match' which is basically an extra round where you fight against a clone of your own character and the winner is the person who can knock their opponent down three times, earning a bit of extra bonus cash if you win. Between matches there is a mysterious leather-clad character in a mask who likes to taunt you and this ends up being the final bad guy who you fight in a 'Championship Match'.

Graphics: 6
This is a very violent game (duh) and although I had played the stunning arcade version first, I still thought the Master System version did ok given the limitations of this console. The animations are still fun and retain that unique feel that comes from the way the original animations were created, using live actors rather than simply being redrawn. Though obviously a fair bit of this was lost in the conversion to a 'lesser' console.

Sound: 3
The fighting sound effects are fine if you want to sound like you are slam dunking a depressed basketball every time you land a kick, or creating the latest techno track when launching a punch combination, and the intro music itself is generally high-pitched forgettable nonsense.

Addictiveness: 7
The toughness of this game and the multiplayer and unique aspects make this quite addictive.

Story: 6
There's not masses of background to the characters, but the overall atmosphere of the game does make you feel like you are progressing through a storyline on your way to fighting the final boss.

Depth: 5
This game is as replayable (or not) as any other fighting game. I'm not sure we buy these kinds of games for the depth of story to them (despite what the Mortal Kombat films would have us believe).

Difficulty: 8
Between having to potentially fight your opponent, the crowd, other players and the mysterious masked end game bad guy, all while executing your own moves and dodging weapons and vehicles, this is quite a tough game for the fighting genre. The arcade version of the game took a great deal of my pocket money as my lives dwindled rather rapidly!!

Overall: 6
Give it a play and see if you like it. Or better yet, try and find a way to play the arcade machine version.

This was a genre defining 'God Game' and was the first of its type that I ever played. I was amazed that rather than controlling a character directly, I altered the entire landscape of a whole world that I was trying desperately to conquer.

The overall objective of Populous is to be the last man (God) standing. This means ridding the planet of all bad guys (red) so that only good guys remain (blue). Who needs a background story when you have all the powers of a God? Mwahahahaha...

There's something deeply satisfying about unleashing a carefully timed swamp which swallows up a bad guy. It's also equally terrifying to see your powerful knight charging headlong towards a trap as you desperately try to change the landscape so he can go kill enemies and burn their buildings.

You can't just have one tactic though, as the rules of the landscape change with each level. Sometimes the water is harmful and your guys drown slowly, giving you time to rescue them. Other times water is instantly fatal, meaning you can chase those baddies across the screen and give them a good dunking!

You will spend most of your time raising and lowering the ground in this way to make it hospitable for your population to rapidly expand until you overwhelm the opposition. The better buildings your people live in then the more easily they generate the mana required to carry out your Godly powers.

There are many ways to win (and lose) including gathering your forces together into one great champion knight who goes on a rampage. Or using a flood to drop everybody into the sea. Or even calling an Armageddon where all dwellings are abandoned in favour of a fight to the death in the centre of the map.

Graphics: 8
While it is a colourful game with distinct worlds to fight in (especially the futuristic worlds) it is also sometimes difficult to make out exactly where you need to place your finger of God to raise and lower the land. Overall though it did well for the Sega Master System.

Sound: 6
There's no real sound while you are playing the game itself, just satisfying noises as you unleash your powers on the enemy, with those same sounds striking terror into your heart as your (evil) counterpart attempts to also wipe you out. You will find yourself mimicking the 'Welcome to Populous' voice at the intro screen.

Addictiveness: 10
This is one of the most addictive games ever as there five thousand levels that you progress through, slowly conquering each world.

Story: 4
There is no background story, no characters to develop. But if you can imagine that the story is of you as a God conquering world after world then that is surely the greatest story ever told?

Depth: 8
There are many worlds to get through and it takes time to slowly progress from the very first world, each subsequent one presenting different challenges and greater levels of difficulty.

Difficulty: 7
It depends on what tactics you use, but some worlds have horrible starting locations where you really have to work fast and smart to outthink and out-pace your computer opponent.

Overall: 8
This game introduced me to the God game genre and remains one of my favourite games of all time.

I have recently rediscovered Vizzed and although I was just a casual user of the site before, I have enjoyed reading through the discussion boards and it's nice to find like-minded people who not only enjoy retro games, but are also nice to talk to about general life too

I also like writing reviews about the games that shaped a lot of my childhood and began my passion for particular genres, such as my love of the Fallout series likely stemming from the many hours I put in playing Ultima IV on my Sega Master System. Writing the reviews lets me think about what I first loved about the game, getting that lovely feeling of nostalgia which I then try to share.

I also love the range of games that you can play here. Having owned quite a few different consoles, it's great to have access to all my favourite games in one place.

A game based on a very popular movie needs to meet expectations beyond those of a normal game. It needs to truly reflect the atmosphere and storyline of the film itself, especially true for Disney movies and The Lion King in particular, which is often regarded as one of the best Disney films of them all.

The Lion King story lends itself very well to gaming because it has a clear good guy (Simba), a clear overall bad guy (Scar), and lots of adventures to go on in between settling a score (Scar causes Simba's father Mufassa to be killed).
You begin the game as the lion cub Simba, who progresses in age and strength throughout the game. You can use your roar power to stun enemies as you make your way across the platform-style levels. You can also find different bugs dotted about throughout each level. Some of these bugs restore your health meter, others restore your roar meter, while a special bug will open up a bonus round at the end of the level should you manage to find it.

Graphics: 9
This is one of the most beautiful games ever produced for the Sega Master System. The colours are vibrant and the levels are wonderfully detailed. Animation is smooth.

Sound: 10
The soundtrack for this game is one of the best out there. It creates a great atmosphere and changes appropriately for each situation. You feel proud as little Simba's yelp becomes a mighty roar as the game progresses.

Addictiveness: 7
This is more of a fun game to play, rather than the sort of addictiveness you get from RPG games. That being said, once you start on your journey you feel you really want to do well and complete the game.

Story: 10
The story is based on one of the most successful Disney movies of all time, so benefits from having clear characters with defined goals and objectives, all set within a world that is familiar to people who have seen the film. Even if you havn't seen the film, due to popular culture the chances are that you do already generally know what this game is all about.

Depth: 6
There are 10 levels in total, which don't actually take very long to complete. There is not a large degree of replayability for this game. It does incorporate all aspects of the story from the movie, from start to finish, so you do get a sense of satisfaction by seeing it through to the end.

Difficulty: 6
This game is not very difficult. Perhaps because The Lion King was children's film, then it may have marketed the game to this age group too. It has the usual pitfalls and intricacies associated with other platform games, but once you get the timing right and get a feel for how your character moves then the game itself becomes quite easy. Even the bosses are easy to defeat once you know the timing for their attack moves.

Overall: 8.5
One of the most fun platform games for the Sega Master System.

Ultima IV will always be more than just a game for me, it was also a gateway into a new world that my younger, wide-eyed self would spend hours and hours exploring. I didn't know it at the time, but Ultima IV was creating my love of the role-playing genre, so much so that the soundtrack to the game is still the default background music in my head.

The game itself is simple enough to pick up and play, but complex enough to require tactics, especially when it comes to turn based fighting and using your carefully gathered resources. There is something satisfying about the crunching footstep noise that accompanies every move you make on the square-based maps, not knowing whether you will randomly encounter an enemy. The footsteps becoming more high-pitched and urgent should you become poisoned, when every step then drains part of your life. Can I make it back to a healer in time? Do I have the right ingredients to mix a Cure Poison potion?

The game begins with you answering a set of quite deep, moral-based questions, in order to determine what kind of character you should be. I spend ages restarting the game and answering each question differently, until I realised that each character class has a dominant trait and you are basically choosing between each character class with every choice you make. This moral-based beginning actually sets the tone for what the overall game is about. You aren't some sort of crusader setting out to defeat an all-powerful bad guy. Instead, you are a humble citizen (usually a shepherd or paladin for me) who has the opportunity to become the embodiment of eight different virtues, the ultimate good guy!

Every decision you made within the game determined your progress towards attaining each of these virtues, with the overall goal to become a leader within the land of Brittania, an Avatar. This level of consequence of each action was way ahead of its time and can be seen a fore-runner of choosing your alignment within future RPGs. Everything you did mattered. Each time you spoke with an in-game character the dialogue may have a major influence on the outcome of the game.

The world of Brittania itself was huge and each character began their journey in a different part of it. Some parts were inaccessible at first and you had to fight your way across the map regardless of where you began. You may acquire a horse to speed up movement (and outrun the bad guys) or perhaps a boat to set sail across the seas and discover some of the game's hidden islands and secrets.

But you didn't have to explore the world alone. Once again incorporating concepts ahead of its time, Ultima IV allowed you to gather a party of adventurers, each with different skills and abilities that complemented each other. You could find these people to join you dotted throughout the world, one of each character class.

Graphics - 7
The graphics were typical of other Sega Master System games of the time. Ultima IV did represent a leap forward compared to previous games in the Ultima series. 

Sound - 8
I played the game for so long that the soundtrack is forever embedded within my brain. The sounds of battle and the excitement of whether you are going to get a satisfying HIT sound, or the slightly scarier MISS sound, plus the high-pitched sound of moving while poisoned, all combine to create a great atmosphere.

Addictiveness - 10
I spent many hours, days and weeks of my youth playing this game. It is extremely addictive as there is so much to explore. 

Depth - 10
One of the largest games at the time of its release, it still takes a while for a newbie to explore the world of Brittania and work out the intricacies of achieving Avatarhood.

Story - 8
The story itself was revolutionary at the time, instead of being a selfish stat-obsessed hero, you had to actually immerse yourself within the goals of the game and work towards the overall story arc.

Difficulty - 7
While some aspects of the story may have been difficult to work out without lots of interactions and exploring, the dungeons themselves can be made easier by having the right resources.

Overall - 9.4
Go on, treat yourself to an adventure within the game that set the standard for so many aspects of future RPGs. 

Not really a losing theme as such, but the buzzing countdown timer and text telling me to 'hurry up' on Timesplitters 2 makes me go crazy in a good way if im close to setting a new record

I think the background music to Ultima IV is now the background music in my head.

It really will make every team believe that anything is now possible. I can't wait to see Leicester in the Champions League!! Obviously I love the fact that Kasper Schmeichel has won the premier league. I read somewhere that since Liverpool last won the league, Peter Scmeichel signed for Man Utd, won it five times, retired, had a son, who then grew up to win it!!

Same with Hazard, who wasn't born when Liverpool last won it. Arsenal are like ground hog day every season. I still don't think i'm over the pain of City's injury time goals to win the league a couple seasons back... most exciting league in the world!

I also support Manchester United and have been waiting all season for Leicester to falter (though have had Vardy and Mahrez in my fantasy football team for a while!). I can't believe they have actually done it, but I do think Ranieri is a great gut and deserves this great achievement. It's also going to be funny to see Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day in his underwear haha!! I can't believe Spurs threw away a 2 goal lead tho!! I have recently moved from Melton Mowbray, just round the corner from Jamie Vardy's house. Hazard's goal was a bit special

The best bit of advice I have lived by is 'don't make life about stuff' so I own few possessions, but have had some amazing experiences travelling around the world. 

The original Jungle Book was also one of my favourite films and I agree that while this new adaptation looks great, the story lacks substance and you don't feel the same way about some of the characters. I think they tried to do things like add in a modern storyline of a character being mean, then overcoming that with positive character traits, to teach lessons to kids.

(on a side note, I did really enjoy Maleficent tho).

My first console was an Amstrad 464+ which I played on constantly, buying the Amstrad Magazine, and really got me into gaming... and with the cassette tape games also taught me patience!!!