Iron Sword review - Nintendo Entertainment System

Malkil's back and he's not very happy! After his humiliating defeat the first time around, the Evil One has sworn revenge and enlisted the elemental forces of Wind, Water, Fire and Earth to his side. Only one man can defeat these monstrosities; Kuros the mighty warrior. He is dedicated to recovering the four sections of the fabled Iron Sword from the land of Sindarin!

Battling through the four elemental planes, Kuros faces repulsive creatures and fiendish platforms. Luckily there are plenty of useful items scattered about the landscape, such as gems, coins, weapons and food (to recover lost energy). Some things are hidden in chests or in secret caverns, so Kuros has to carefully search each area before confronting the final guardian.

The Inns provide a welcome rest from the slaughter, and the chance to buy handy items like food and spells. There's also a bonus game in which a ball falls down to a random cup - if Kuros bets correctly, he gets 290 coins, but if he's wrong he loses 100!

As the hero progresses the challenge gets increasingly tough. Yet with the fate of the world resting on his shoulder, he cannot afford to give up!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

I'm afraid that this didn't impress me a great deal. Agreed, it's a nice game and fun to play, but I can't help thinking that we've seen it all before. Duck Tales and Gremlins II are better platform games, and have a more original approach. How many times are console owners going to be sent to find X pieces of a magic sword? Still, the game has its merits, and it's fun to play - although not being able to hit baddies while jumping is a major problem. But if platform games are your bag then it may be a good idea to have a look at this.

Wizards and Warriors was a fun game, but it didn't exactly set the world on fire. The same can be said about this sequel. It's tough, challenging and features some excellent graphics, but doesn't exactly ooze original features. There are so many brilliant platform games on the Nintendo, a game of this type really needs something special to make it a vital addition to your software collection. Megaman and Megaman II had it, and so did Mario II and Duck Tails. This one unfortunately hasn't. It's not that it's a bad game - on any other console this would be seen as brilliant - it's just that there are several better ones than this available on the Nintendo. If you're a platform fan, check this out by all means, but not before you've had a look at the other games I mentioned.