Robocod

STORY / GAMEPLAY
It's nearly two years since 1990, when the original "James Pond" was developed for the Amiga computers, scoring a massive 9 out of 10 in almost all major video game magazines of the time. The story begins with Dr Maybe (!) who's holding a toy factory to ransom in the North Pole (Santa's toy factory actually) with the intention to cause present-less Christmas for every child! The nasty doctor has been manufacturing a range of lethal playthings in an attempt to take revenge for his defeat in the previous game's story. And he will finally succeed unless James (our little fish-Bond hero) steps in! A high-tech RoboCop style suit enables Pond to expand his torso to preposterous heights! This comes in extremely handy during gameplay as very often you'll have to reach platforms and grip on them with your "fishy" fingers! During the game, you will find loads of power-ups. Hostile creatures lurk in these levels, and they come in many forms. There are no weapons in the game, so James must jump on them to kill them. The whole action takes place in rooms fully decorated with huge toys, candies and other kid stuff. Ok, the action is a stereotypical platform mayhem and basically all you have to do is to run, jump, squash, stretch (!) and generally splash your fins around, defeating baddies and killing massive bosses every two stages or so, in a joyful and very colorful wrap!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Game Gear visuals are stunning, very colorful while the action is smooth! Most of the original details are also found here but limited (cropped) by the screen size of the portable machine. It also feels fast and the controls are very responsive. It is probably one of the best games in terms of graphics and gameplay for the Game Gear handheld! The sound is also good, including the original in-game tunes as well as many sound effects (but not sampled) but the introductory tune at the main menu is missing due to the cartridge's limited memory size.