Captain Planet

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Captain Planet and his team of five Planeteers are about to save Earth's threatened environment once and for all. You play each level as one of the Planeteer characters from the famous animated series of the 90s, each having his own unique powers (such as creating ice platforms to jump on or even growing vines tall to climb on higher platforms). You can even wander riding your own aircraft like a jet and a submarine, allowing you to zip around the decently sized levels. A typical mission could involve saving a number of polar bears, shutting down a series of nuclear waste sites or using your jet (Geocruiser) to repair the damaged ozone layer. Each level has a different theme, based upon the team member's special powers with unique puzzles to solve and several nasties and traps to evade or destroy. Once you have completed all five levels (one connected to each character), the heroes then combine powers and Captain Planet is summoned! Its variable gameplay makes the game refreshing compared with to many other generic platforms games where you simply collect gems and try to find the exit. Well, the game has a few major flaws though. The controls are often unresponsive. For instance, when you jump, your character rises slowly and then lands equally slowly back to the surface, making the game feel extremely sluggish and hard to reckon simple jumps. Also, when you lose a life, your character will spawn again straight back to the same situation without an invulnerability time, losing another life for the very same reason!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Atari ST version has bright visuals with up to 30 colors on-screen, which is almost double than the usual 16. The ST version runs in flip-screen mode which is rather frustrating at times. The backgrounds are quite good with nothing to complain about or to get overly excited. The sprites and the backdrops move adequately with some minor slowdowns when the screen is overcrowded. The sound on the ST is also good with some nice in-game tunes and a few sound effects (not sampled) accompanying your hero's Earth-saving quest.

GAMEPLAY SAMPLE VIDEO
On our video below you may watch the Atari ST, Amiga OCS and the much different Sega Mega Drive version of the game.