Price: £39.99 Players: 1 Hmmmmm..... where do i begin? The guys who came up with this game have some odd sense of humour - well if you like watching yourself be cut up by big circular saws, falling from great heights, being chopped to death by crazed Egyptian-stylee monsters, rewinding time then watching it happen again - then this is definately for you! Something's happened to the world and basically everyone's dead apart from you (and some chick you find along the way - oh yes, there is even the element of the damsel in distress - how original - but no game would be the same if the hero didnt have to rescue some pathetic woman or another). At first the game seems a little hard to master as you have no clue where the hell you're meant to be going as all of the scenery is interactive and you have to work out what wall the run along, which post to swing from, which pole to climb but as the game progresses... it gets harder!

The graphics are absolutely breathtaking and the effects and abilities are more than amazing - graphically, it is a masterpiece, matched only by nature itself (oh, I'm making myself sick now) but honestly even if you're not playing and just watching, the whole game is madness and the effects never cease to amaze no matter how many times you see them. The game unfolds as you run through more and more confusing levels trying to work out how your meant to get from one end to the next through a baffling maze of puzzles, level pulling, wall running whilst fighting tonnes of enemies. Some levels are mainly based on trying to get from point A to point B, avoiding spinning blades and other things extremely hazardous to the health which is hard enough on its own; but other levels are mainly fighting based with the enemyies coming thick and fast, sometimes it seems they never end and the use of the rewind-time feature is pretty useful to get you out of sticky spots. As I've mentioned, the game's hard to work out how to get from A to B, but with all the hazards kindly put there to thwart your best efforts you kind of get chopped to bits several times or fall off a ledge as it crumbles beneath your feet which is where the sands of time come into play. As you callously murder each evil minion, you can use your magic dagger/sword thingy to suck sand out of them which fills in your sand meter at the side (funky yellow dots for those who dont care what it really is) which allows you to rewind time for a short period - useful if your falling to your death. press the button and, Hey Presto!, you see the action rewind before your very eyes - its fun to watch yourself repeatedly get impaled on spikes - Yay! Health gets replenished by drinking from any kind of water you happen to be standing in or from conveniently-placed water fountains (see it even promotes healthy drinking).

Controls aren't too hard to master - it's just the finding where you're going thats the pain in the.... but that's part of the fun. If you've ever had Tarzan, King of the Jungle, it's kind of an adult version of that - real damn hard to find where you're meant to be and even harder to get there! Brilliant, breath-taking and a great all round game. NOTE: there is one big let down though - the game is advertised as being online compatible: however it is only online enable to tell people you're playing the game - Oh wow(!) you get images of being able to run along the walls fighting your friends (which would be awesome) but no, it just tells people you're playing the game - no online features, nothing - boo-hoo! so if you're buying this because it says its online - dont you will feel let down, but the game's great without that.

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Review copyright © Kirsten, 2004.