Producer: US Gold
Retail Price: £8.99
Author: Adventure Soft

First they went from TV stars to plastic toys, and now - predictably perhaps, they're a computer game. Masters Of The Universe has gone from strength to strength since arriving in this country from the States. US GOLD has licensed the idea from MATTEL and converted the hunky cartoon characters for the pixilated small screen.

All the favourites from the series are here, including the evil Skeletor, Sorceress, He-Man and of course Castle Grayskull. You, hunk that you are, play He-Man as he punches, slashes and kicks his way through yet another attempt to overthrow Skeletor.

Way beneath Snake Mountain the evil Skeletor has discovered the arcane Hearth stone, and by using its supreme powers he has managed to take over Castle Grayskull. He-Man has vowed to destroy the Dearth stone and put a stop to Skeletor's dastardly plans for domination. Unfortunately, Orko, trying to help out, cast an Imprison Spell at Skeletor, but because he was heavily protected by the hearth stone, the spell rebounded and now Orko is himself imprisoned inside Castle Grayskull. Now read on...

The task is to break into the castle, release Orko, destroy the hearth stone and reinstate the Sorceress back where she belongs inside Grayskull. There's a drawback. Skeletor has created an army of clones within the castle, who have been programmed to attack intruders, sapping their energy, and they must be destroyed or avoided.

Luckily, hunky He-Man, armed with his trusty Sword of Power, can despatch most of the clones with a quick poke at their nether regions. He's also a very agile fellow, able to wn and leap over obstacles if necessary.

Apart from slaying as many clones as possible, the idea is to collect objects on the way, which might be useful during the mission. They also provide Orko with the right spell to release himself from the castle and to conjure the spell that you require: a spell to turn the sword into an Atom Crusher.

How much power remains in He-Man's sword, how many skulls he's cracked, and how much Body Shield he has left, are all shown in a status panel. Body Shield protects He-Man from most of the blows inflicted on his muscular body, and appears as a block around the on-screen character. It wears out though, and leaves him vulnerable to sudden death.

There's a time limit too, represented by moons. At the start He-Man has only three moons to finish off Skeletor. Will he manage everything in time?

COMMENTS

Control keys: 8 run left, 9 run right, 0 jump right, 2 up, W down, 1 jump left, SPACE fire, R restart
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour: colourful, but lots of clashes
Graphics: good when static, but moving spoils the effect...
Sound: none
Skill levels: one
Screens: scrolling play area

The gameplay is non-existent, the graphics are bad, there's no sound and it's badly programmed. In fact the only thing that Masters of the Universe has going for it is its name. The controls are badly laid out, and there are two jump keys - one for each direction! Nice, pretty backgrounds and lots of colour, but when you move around things start to get sick (although there's no colour clash - the programmers have got round this by putting He-Man in a box, so whenever he goes near a landscape feature it gets rubbed out. Keep away, this is completely horrid.
BEN

What has US GOLD done this time? This must be one of the worst games to come out of their stable for ages - and it's one of the worst looking games around. There may be a lot of colour on screen, but it's badly constructed and too liberal - and why the hell they've got a big black 'halo' wound the main character is beyond me. I found it unplayable, with the collision detection particularly spelling. I found it no fun to play, and there's nothing even slightly addictive to hang on to. I hate to say it, but even the TV series is better than this.
PAUL

What a pile of rubbish! The 'filmation' business is confusing, as filmation in computer terminology means something quite different to the definition used by the film production company who make Masters of the Universe on TV. The graphics aren't very good, and He- Man himself doesn't look particularly realistic. It's very boring to play, and not much good to look at. I wouldn't recommend it.
MIKE

US Gold
£8.99

Talk about beefcake! He-Man™ ain't no wimp. This guy is wall-to-wall muscle - and possibly ear-to-ear as well, because his name hardly suggests the intellect of Einstein.

Still, when Skeletor™ has discovered the hearth Stone, overthrown Castle Grayskull™ banished the Sorceress™ and creatoe in army of evil clones (wot, no™?) - all before breakfast - then sword play scores higher than relativity. And as collecting the correct ingredients will turn the Sword of Power into an Atom Smasher, it's yah, boo, sucks to E=MC²!

The wizard Orko™ has been trapped by a magic trick of his own making - obviously he's more Tommy Cooper than Paul Daniels - and He-Man™ has to rescue him from Castle Grayskull™ and...

Hang on, what's all this ™ stuff??? Toy Manufacturer? Teenies Market? Total Moneymaking? After Masters of The Universe™ the TV series, the figures, the comic book, the feature film, the rubdown transfers, comes Masters Of The Universe™ the computer game.

You start deep in the middle of a forest. Seems Skeletor changed the lock when he inhabited Castle Grayskull but lucky he left a key under the mat... or almost under the mat. You have to search a little, dodging the laser barriers and cracking the odd clone, before you can sneak in.

Picking up the shimmering swords en route is also a good idea, because they give you the fire power necessary to clunk the clones before they clock you one. Colliding with them makes them vanish in a puff, but also saps your strength, so shoot first.

Once inside the Castle, it's time for those classic questions like which way to turn, whether to wait for the lift and what will that lever do? in short, you're stuck on screens filled with platforms, ladders and more of those confounded clones, plus the odd robot.

Picking up ingredients for the all important Atom Smasher spell should be high on the agenda. Follow that with finding Orko, who's trapped in a tower somewhere. Then it's time to skin old Skeletor and smash his Stone. Don't expect to gallop through Grayskull though. Each section has a number of problems to solve.

Grayskull's graphics have dragged me out of my accustomed arcady antipathy though. They successfully suggest the style of the original cartoons. He-Man is a nicely animated little chap too, and he carries around his own background to avoid attribute clashes. It's a convenient way round the Spectrum's problems, allowing our hero to run and dive most impressively, without vanishing into the wall.

He-Man also runs, or rather glides, up and down, because there's an element of depth to the scenes, though it's not too convincingly represented. At least you can tell where you are. Unluckily, the default for a movement is to face left, which can make you turn when you'd rather not. Keyboard players face an extra hazard too. A leapis represented by a separate key, not a combination of up and side.

This smacks of being a sprite game converted to the non-sprite Speccy, but it's been quite nicely done. Fans of the original should flex to this one, while even the unconverted should have some fun kicking sand in clones' faces.

Label: US Gold
Price: £7.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: John Gilbert

Eternia, a land of high fantasy, has been enslaved by the skull-faced warlord Skeletor and his hoardes of monsterous misfits.

Castle Greyskull has been captured, the good Scorceress banished, and Orko trapped within the castle by his own 'imprison' spell.

Any of this mean anything to you? Yep. It's all got something to do with the mega-popular ITV cartoon adventure series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. First a cartoon film, now a US Gold game.

You guide He-Man through a Jet Set Willy-inspired landscape of platforms and mossy walls. There's screen upon screen with the added action of some combat. Find your way into the castle and find the ingredients of a spell which Orko can cast once he's been released.

Sounds good so far. Pity, really. While the backgrounds are full colour and He-Man is smoothly animated, US Gold has chosen to combat colour clash by building a large black rectangle around his lithe, yellow, outline. It moves with the figure blotting out trees walls and laser beams as it goes. Similar to the black 'shadow' outlines round the figures in Dark Sceptre but nowhere near as subtle. I'm afraid I found it hugely distracting and very irritating.

He-Man's quest starts in the everglades outside the laser barrier set up by Skeletor to protect castle Greyskull. You start the game with only one method of attack: a slashing stroke with your power sword. Hold the Fire button down to bring the sword into the strike position and release it to attack.

Alternatively, you can guide He-Man to one of the many power puddles scattered around the everglades and castle. Step on them and his sword is energised, and suddenly capable of firing an energy bolt at any passing monster he cares to blast.

To get into the castle He-Man races across the jerkily animated screens (shame about that), jumps over two laser barriers and collects a key. Each castle room has a different and more cunningly difficult arrangement of levels, large sprites and green, mossy, walls.

He-Man's adversaries are a mixture of fantasy figures, most of them Skeletor clones, and laser firing robots. One blast from the power sword is enough to dispel them, but each time they hit He-Man with their magic power his body shield is drained slightly. Lose your protective shield and it's start again time - just like life, really.

The ingredients you need for the spell, which will turn the Sword of Power into an Atom Smasher capable of destroying Skeletor, are mostly found within Castle Greyskull.

There are six objects to collect, including an orchid and a bottle of spice. Each one is stored in a specimen jar on the status screen when it's picked up. Once you've found Orko he takes the ingredients and uses them to strip Skeletor of his power and send him back to the evil caverns under Snake Mountain.

The very obvious graphics problems within He-Man and the Universe are mostly off-set by the large number of quite difficult problems in the game.

But it's unlikely to suit you if you don't know He-Man from Prince Adam. If, you're a fan though you'll be able to add it to the rest of your He-Man gear, the videos, soundtracks, posters, soldiers, comics and books...

MACHINE: Spectrum/C64/Amstrad
SUPPLIER: US Gold
PRICE: £8.99 (Spectrum), £9.99 (C64/Amstrad), £14.99 (Disks)
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum

He's the original hunk - the most powerful man in Eternia. HE-MAN! The star of small screen cartoons, dodgy plastic models, comics and a million and one other spin-offs finally reaches the computer.

His muscle-bound form takes a bit of hammering on the Spectrum. Not so much a Superman figure - more a Clark Kent. And, oh dear, is this a black box surrounding him to get around the colour clash problems? Yes it is!

First impressions are important -and this could well make you think that the game was going to be generally dodgy. Even the fact that HeMan has acquired a body shield and this could be used to explain the black box surrounding our hero doesn't help much.

But take a deep breath and play the game and you'll find that Masters of the Universe - in the Hearth Stone, is a splendidly colourful platform adventure.

OK, so it may only be another graphically good platforms and ladders game, but it somehow has a real atmosphere.

You are HeMan, battling as usual the evil Skeletor and attempting to destroy the Ilearth stone which grants old skull-face his deadly powers.

The game sets you the task of freeing the little wizard Orko from one of the many stone towers of Castle Greyskull. Only his magic can help you destroy the stone.

But before you free him you must find the correct ingredients for a spell that will turn your Sword of Power into an atom smasher.

To get through the game you have to collect various objects while fighting off Skeletor's clones. Watch out for the shimmering patches scattered around - these give your Sword of Power more power to wipe out your enemies.

When killed some transform into things you need. On the opening screens a clone turns into a plant which you require for the spell.

The game begins outside Castle Grayskull - HeMan has to find a key to the castle and beat off some clones before he can really get down to the task of freeing Orko and getting rid of the stone.

This serves as a training session for the rest of the game - you learn how to control HeMan as he runs, jumps and fights his way through the opening hazards.

Then it's into the castle where the real game starts. Here you come across loads of clones and robot creatures all out to end your career as the world's toughest character. Just think of all the royalties you'll lose if you let them kill you off.

The castle is packed with platforms, some moving, most static, as well as all those enemies. There are hidden doors to be opened by moving levels and many secrets to be uncovered.

US Gold says that the 64 and Amstrad versions won't suffer from this blemish on the character of HeMan - and they add that the 64 music is pretty spectacular. We'll have to wait and see...

Masters of the Universe is a good platform adventure and unlike many other cartoon, movies, book, comic spin-offs actually does manage to capture the spirit of the original characters.

US Gold
£9.95

When US Gold bought the licence for this hit TV series it was undecided which type of game would best suit the heroic battles of He-man. The result is two games. This arcade adventure and a Scoff Adams style adventure.

Skeletor, arch-enemy of He-man has found the all-powerful Illearth stone and has overthrown Castle Grayskull. You have to enter the castle find the stone and defeat Skeletor and free the land.

Orko tried to trap Skeletor in an imprison cell which backfired trapping Orko in one of the castle's stone pillars. You must find him and give the right ingredients that he will use to turn your sword into Atom Smasher!

On screen, He-man is represented by a feeble yellow clad figure that is surrounded by a black oblong that blots out his immediate surroundings. However, you haven't long to admire this amazing breakthrough in Spectrum graphics, you are attacked by one of Skeletor's minions, Before you can say "you don't mess with He-man" you've despatched it with a single blow and added one to your "skulls cracked" total. This total lies below the main screen display along with the state of your body shield, the objects you carry, your sword status and the self explanatory countdown of the moons till doom.

The way to the castle is short but hazardous and lies beyond two spiked pits complete with deadly electrical pulses beaming across them. Well timed leaps will lead you to the key and then the castle but mistime one of the three jumps you must make and your quest comes to an abrupt end.

Inside the castle you are met by even more nasties that leap, fly, jump and fire at you but most can be despatched by your fully charged sword of power. This leaves you free to explore the platforms and rooms of the Castle Graystoke until you find Orko with the correct ingredients and defeat Skeletor.

Unfortunately, neither the gameplay or the graphics capture the atmosphere of He-man or the rest of the Masters of the Universe crew and your joystick or keyboard could be controlling anybody or anything (even a pumpkin) while you battle nondescript monsters in yet another completely silent platform screened arcade adventure.

Another wasted licence.