Navy Seals review - Amstrad GX4000

Nope, not a game about paramilitary sea mammals clapping and catching fish, the Navy SEALS are the US Navy's equivalent to our SAS - and they don't even smoke Embassies. Based on the Charlie Sheen film (yet to be released in the UK), the game involves a team of SEALS infiltrating a Middle Eastern country to rescue hostages, killing, maiming, and blowing things up on the way.

The action takes place over six levels, each based in an exotic location, such as a harbour, barracks, and a radio tower. Each team member can jump, somersault on to platforms, crouch and crawl - as well as shoot, of course. The idea is to travel through the level, planting bombs and splattering Johnny Arab Terrorist all over the landscape within the tough time limit. Eight lives are all you get, and the time isn't reset when a SEAL dies, so there's no hanging around!

Luckily power-ups are liberally dispersed through the levels, usually in the form of weapon upgrades including machine guns and flame throwers. Not an easy game, lots of effort is required to free the hostages for truth, justice, and the American way!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Whoops! Guess who made their game too difficult? There's no problem with a hard-to-beat game, but this Ocean offering's just plain awkward to play. That's a shame, as there's a good game in there struggling to get out; and after the poor showing of Robocop II, I was hoping this would be the platform game to buy for the Amstrad. Still, it has its redeeming features; the animation of the hero swinging onto an overhead platform is superb, and it has that "just one more try" quality - although sometimes frustration makes you want to get the cartridge and bung it out of the window. If you're not the most patient of players, think twice before buying.

Navy SEALS features some brilliant graphics - the backdrops are nicely drawn and the animation is truly superb. The presentation is also very good, with a stunning title screen and good intermission screens. Even the basic game concept is exciting, requiring the player to sneak around Arab-infested buildings laying bombs and avoiding getting shot. However, the big problem is that the game is hard. Frustratingly hard. Even though the game is always the same each time you play it (so it's just a case of learning exactly what to do in each situation) it's still amazingly tough since you've got an incredibly tight time limit and your men die or lose virtually all their energy if they fall even short distances. It's a great shame that the playability hasn't been properly balanced, because with a few tweaks to the basic gameplay this could have been an absolute stunner. As it is, it's a very tough and frustrating game which only very, very experienced players will enjoy.