Isolated Warrior review - Nintendo Entertainment System

Our hero, Max Maverick, has a few problems. As well as severe body odour, bad breath and the urge to spin unconvincing yarns (that's why he's isolated, see), his little world is in the process of being taken over by evil, slimy creatures that are somehow even more grotesque, smelly and unappealing than him!

Max realises that the path to social acceptability involves travelling up the pseudo-3D landscape blasting all and sundry with a variety of weapons. Only when this done can Max have a bath, gurgle some mouth wash and rejoin his circle of friends.

But Max isn't so good at the heroics of seeing off an alien invasion task force, and he's going to need your joypad alien-blasting skills!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Nintendo are releasing some very bizarre games. You'd think that with their huge catalogue of games in the US they'd be releasing the likes of NARC and Smash TV. But no, instead we get Isolated Warrior. Thankfully, obscure as the game may be, it isn't really that bad. The viewpoint works quite well and the blasting action is quite enjoyable and addictive. The graphics are pretty good and quite varied between the levels, and the sound isn't bad either. The only problem is that the game is quite easy and I can see hardened joypad warriors completing the game after a few fays. Still, if you're new to shoot 'em ups, check this out.

The unusual Zaxxon-style 3D angle, the fast and furious scrolling and the sheer amount of bad guys to blow into the middle of next week make this an engrossing and entertaining shoot 'em up. The action is well addictive, and there's plenty of variety from level to level to stop you from getting bored. The only negative point is that the difficulty level isn't particularly high, and shoot 'em aces might find themselves completing the game after a few days. So bear that in mind when you check this out.