Story: The game revolves around the Gunstar family that protects four mystic gems that were used to power an evil robot, Golden Silver, that can suck the planet's resources dry. The robot was stopped by Proffesor White Gunstar and sealed away in one of the planet's moons. One day Colonel Red kidnaps Green Gunstar and uses a mind control device to get him to steal the mystic gems. As one of the Gunstar twins you must retrieve all four gems and stop Colonel Red before he can restart Golden Silver.

The game can be played with either one or two players simultaneously. You can choose which twin you wish to play as, a firing mode and then a default weapon. You must them work your way through seven levels to get to Golden Silver.

Rating = N/A

Graphics: Superb. These have to be some of the best graphics seen on a Megadrive. It really shows the power of the machine and betters alot of the visuals seen on a Super Nintendo. Even the rotating title screen was once thought impossible to do with the Megadrive hardware.

Each level has it's own feel and atmosphere thanks to detailed and varied environments. The scrolling is top notch with some great parallax movement. The explosions are also impressive.

As for the sprites, they are detailed and very well animated. All the characters in the game are well presented and have their own personalities which gives the game some emotional content, especially at the end of the game but I won't spoil it for you. Special mention must go to the bosses which are really the stars of the game for me as they are really imaginatively designed. Look out for the hand-to-hand battle with Curry and Rice.

Rating = 10/10

Sound: The Megadrive is capable of producing some great music and in this game it doesn't disappoint. The tracks are fast and varied, which suits the frantic style of the game well.

The sound effects are great too. The best ones being the explosions. Even the grunts and yells of the main characters are well produced and add to their personalities as well. The only problem I have with the sound effects is that the weapons of both the player and the enemies sounds a bit underwhelming. Sometimes it doesn't feel like you are using such powerful weaponry at all.

Rating = 8/10

Controls: The direction button (D-Button) is used to move your character. Button A is used to cycle through the weapon combinations. Button B is used to fire and Button C is used to jump.

You can also use some hand-to-hand combat techniques such as punches, throws, slides and flying kicks by using combinations of the buttons.

Despite the amount of movements on offer the control setup is simple and easy to pick up and learn. You also need to learn to adapt how you control your character depending on the weapon they are holding and which enemies they are fighting. The problem with this though is that some of the weapons can be quite unwieldy and hard to control, such as the homing shot and flamethrower combination.

Another matter, although trivial, is the way in which you pick up items. Rather than having to duck and press fire to pick them up it would be much easier to run into them for collection.

Rating = 9/10

Playability: Fiendishly addictive and hugely enjoyable, this game has everything an action platformer needs.

The levels are large and varied. One level your catching up with an escaping airship, the next your on a motorbike in a mineshaft and then onto a boardgame that leads to a series of boss battles. There is even a part where you control a space ship in a shoot 'em up style level.

The weapons system is innovative and provides you with 14 different weapons which can be altered to suit your cirumstances.

What I particularly love about this game is the amount of gaming moments that I will remember forever after playing it. The one that stands out the most for me is the battle with Green and his Seven Force in the mine shaft on the second level, pure genius.

Rating = 10/10

Value for money: This game takes well over an hour to play through. It may not seem alot today with games taking up to 40 hours to beat but it quite tough on the harder game modes. The changing of gameplay style throughout the game makes sure that it is never boring and provides you with plenty of surprises during the game. The two player mode also helps round off the package nicely too.

My only worry is that the game is too easy to defeat on easy mode with only moderate and hard mode providing any real challenge.

Rating = 8/10

Rarity: As you can probably tell from the box scan I do not have the stand-alone version of this game. I bought this copy from a Littlewoods catalogue store about five maybe six years ago for £16.99 brand new and I would have gladly paid that for this game on its own.

I haven't had any experience in trying to find the stand-alone version but I have seen it in shops for about £7.99 and on ebay I've seen it go for around about £20. In my opinion that is a small price to pay for one of the best Megadrive games available.

Rating = N/A

Overall: In my opinion this is the best game for the Sega Megadrive. It just shows what the Megadrive is capable of. Treasure have done themselves proud and it is hard to believe that this is their first game. I only wish they'd have made a sequel.

Rating = 9/10