Good shall always triumph over evil. History has proved that over and over again. The problem is, the forces of evil are an irrepressible bunch. As soon as you banish the evil forces back to the place from whence they came, they return to wreak havoc upon the world once again.
This time, though, evil reckons it's got it sussed. All the powerful wizards that have been its undoing before have been captured. The only reason they're not dead yet is because Satan has been kept busy devising really nasty ways to torture them to death. And once they're dead, the world is doomed - this time for eternity.
There is one tiny glimmer of hope. While a warrior could not possibly take on the evil satanic forces himself, if one were to become adept in the use of magic, then maybe, just maybe, he'd stand a tiny chance of defeating the dark overlord.
Unfortunately it's not a case of simple enrolling in the local college for a crash course in advanced wizardry. To learn the arcane arts he must first cross the land of lost magic, where he will find three magic papyrus rolls that will give him the required knowledge. Only then will our hero - and this means you - be capable of the awesome task of taking on Satan and the other creatures of hell.
The game is split into two halves. In the first you play the warrior, guiding him through the land of lost magic in his quest for the lost papyrus rolls.
You can run around to your heart's content on the platforms. To advance through the levels though, you'll need to jump and cling onto the pillars which seem to hang in mid air. Arcade fans will notice that this section bears more than a passing resemblance to the game Black Tiger.
The monsters come in several flavours. The plain vanilla type are the Trows, which are everywhere, and if you so much as blink you'll find them popping up all over the place. These can only harm you by contact, but they're still pretty tough, and need several shots to kill them.
You'll meet many other of Hell's minion on your travels. They have various methods of attack and you'll have to fight them all if you're to stand any chance at all of success. Killing creatures reaps rewards. Most often you'll get a coin which just gives you points. Some will reveal more valuable collectables, though: extra energy, more time and additional lives are amongst the goodies up for grabs after successful combat.
Eventually, after much running about, leaping around and getting hurt, you'll come across one of the Guardians of the scrolls. These are real mean monsters, and hopefully you'll have received a power-up or two before you face them.
The first you'll come across is Tam Lin, a dragon made of bone. You'll need to shoot him in the head several times and then blast his beating heart to pieces to obtain the first scroll.
In the unlikely event that you manage to complete the first part, you'll be given an access code to reach the second section of the game. It's here that you meet Satan, along with even worse adversaries with whom you will enter in mortal combat.
Luckily, though, you're now a wizard. Admittedly a pretty poorly-
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
For the most part the scrolling is smooth and constant. IT does seem to judder occasionally, just out of the corner of your eye, but this doesn't detract from the playability. The backgrounds are well drawn, with lots of fire-and-
LASTING INTEREST
Satan is almost two games in one. Firstly, there's the Black Tiger style platform and pillars game. Complete that and you'll find the second half different enough to keep you going. Saying that, both sections are tough enough in their own right and it's quite possible that you won't beat the first level. However, many will.
JUDGEMENT
Satan is unoriginal, but good fun nevertheless. The first part is a linear adventure, where you progress further and further each time you play. The second section could be described as a sort of martial arts with lightning bolts. It's this combination that makes Satan such a devilishly addictive game!