Fairly familiar territory this one, I'm afraid. Cute Platform Game Syndrome. Probably terminal. No known cure. Tragic. Esther Rantzen's setting up a terribly sincere Telethon to raise money for it as we speak. Difficult times, difficult times.
It's the same old story. Long ago in a colourful and fluffy land lived a wise and just king. The king spent his days walking through the forests and talking to rabbits and deer. And at night he'd listen to cheeky Paul McCartney records and ring up all his loyal subjects on the telephone and tell them they were very special little people and he loved them all as individuals.
He was, to be honest, a right ponce. He also had two sons. Twins, actually. And they were pretty "Mega" too. Hence the name, I s'pose.
Anyway, some big evil monster somewhere decided that it'd had enough of all this poncing about and listening to Paul McCartney records and set about ravaging and pillaging, left, right and centre. All the usual palaver followed, all the bunny rabbits and deer got killed horribly, the king and his subjects got splattered everywhere and all the Paul McCartney records got smashed. So it wasn't all bad.
But as if by some blinding stroke of luck, those oh-so remarkable twins survived the apocalypse. Quite how these two managed to dodge all that fire and brimstone is quite beyond me, but surely they did and they grew up to become fearsome warriors - while retaining that all-important cuteness, of course.
And so, with spiritual guidance from that now familiar over-
I don't think I'd be sticking my neck out too far by saying that Mega Twins owes quite a lot to games like Mario Brothers, Rodland, New Zealand Story and thousands of other cutesy platform romps. It's not quite what you'd call a wildly original concept, but Ver Twins manage to do all the old tricks with a fair dollop of style and addictiveness.
The first three worlds, which can be played in any order, take you through land, sea and air in quest for some magic items to beat the bad guys with. This means that the controls change slightly depending on which terrain you're on.
In the sea you are susceptible to currents, in the air you have to keep prodding up to keep airborne, and on the ground, well, things are as you expect. It's only a little thing but it helps to give Mega Twins that little bit extra.
Once all three magic items are in your cute clutches, they unite to become some mystical dragon thingy. Doesn't really seem to make much difference, but it does mean that you've made it to the monster lair. Spooky or what? Things get a lot from here on, as the monsters lob everything they've got at you and your twin. And that's it. At least as far as I can get.
The graphics are standard for this sort of game. You know the sort of thing - cute heroes, weird, wonderful enemies and colourful cartoony backgrounds. Hidden bonuses abound and extra weapons are there for the taking. Seen it before, and I've probably seen done better as well, But Mega Twins is inoffensive enough.
Unoriginal, untaxing and un-something else, but still good enough to spend any spare cash on. Worth a look if you've nothing better on.