Empire/Bedrock Software
£9.99 cass, £14.99 disk

Spiderman, Spiderman does whatever a spider can, spins a web any size dadada, dedede... Oops, sorry, got a bit carried away there, but all you true believers out there will be pleased to know for maybe not) that two of Marvel comics' biggest stars, along with one of their biggest villains battle each other in Empire's latest game. Victor Von Doom, sell appointed dictator of the small European country of Latveria is up to his usual dastardly tricks.

He's pinched a US nuclear missile and now holds New York City to ransom. Either the United States becomes a colony of Latveria, or the Big Apple goes BOOM. Of course no one is keen on either of Doom's plans, so they call on Peter Parker (aka Spiderman), and Steve Rodgers (aka Captain America) to go to the mad tyrant's castle in Latveria to thwart his evil doings.

The game starts with you being asked to choose a skill level, either Beginner, Hero or Superhero. After answering a few questions from the instruction manual to check you aren't a pirate, it's into the first scene. You control both Spidey and Wing Head (but not at the same time). The game switches to and fro between two distinct parts. The usual arcade action sequences where our heroes battle The Rhino, Machette, Batroc and Electro. Two energy meters screen bottom monitor each combatant. Spidey can hit and kick as well as fire webbing, whilst Cap slings his shield around. Interspersed are static 'fill in'screens of comic book style pages explaining the action as you go along, which is a nice touch.

The 'comic book' is a wonderful idea, it's just a shame the rest of the game is so poor. Character sprites are quite well drawn, but move more like puppets than the rough, tough super heroes we all know and love. The 'action' isn't any great shakes either: just plugging away at an enemy that wipes the floor with you every time isn't my idea of fun.

MARK [39%]

Dr Doom's Revenge is simply an excuse for a beat-'em-up game. It all starts off looking pretty promising with a really good loading screen and good between level graphics in cartoon strip style. But once it's loaded you have to pass through an annoying code-entering section to start - only to find a bad quality beat-'em-up with unimpressive graphics when you get there. The Marvel comics characters are here, sort of. Captain America, for example, is very blocky, and the game being in white monochrome doesn't help matters at all. Sound again is unimpressive, with only a silly blip when you hit someone. Dr Doom's Revenge is a good example of trying to sell a game on the name of the character. Fans of Dr Doom and all the other comic characters may buy it, but they won't have much fun playing it.
NICK [53%]

Empire
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

Superheroes, I don't know. When you really think about it you've got to concede they're basically a bunch of poofs in silly tight-fitting costumes. Most of them, that is - there's one superhero I wouldn't dare call a poof and that's Dr Doom, the iron-masked Marvel creation who's the centrepiece of this game.

Mind you, he's not really a superhero at all -he's actually a super-villain, which is another kettle of fish altogether. No body-stockings for the good Doctor - he gets to wear a rather funky metal suit. Do you get to control him though? Um, no you don't as it happens. You get to control Spiderman (a poof) and Captain America (another poof). But what do you have to make them do? And, more importantly, how do you make them do it? is it all rip-roaring fun? Well, read on and you might find out. But first I'll hit you with a tiny bit of scenario...

"Dr Doom has half-inched a nuclear missile, which he's going to launch at New York City - unless the United States surrenders and agrees to become a colony of Latveria (ie Dr Doom's country). So the President of the United States takes the only option open to him - he calls in a couple of blokes who wear tight-fitting body-wraps and asks them to go and sort the heinous Doom out. Spiderman and Captain America willingly agree, and off they gaily trek to Latveria. But what they don't know is that Dr Doom is not alone in his fortress - he's gone and recruited a whole load of other super-villains to guard his castle complex. There's Batroc, Rattan, Boomerang, Oddball, Eduardo Lobo (He doesn't sound very dangerous. Ed) and a whole host more."

So that's the scenario. But what lies behind it? I'll tell you - a monochrome side-viewed beat-'em-up, that's what. In some of the levels you're playing Spidey while in others you're playing Cap. Eventually you have to take on Doom, but to get to him you need to take on all his henchmen and robotic automations (and win). Both Cap and Spidey have a variety of moves at their disposal, as is par for the course in beat-'em-ups. However, one thing that's different is that the moves are related to your distance from a foe. For instance, in Captain America's case, if he's close to his adversary an 'up and fire' position on the joystick makes him smack the opponent in the head with his shield. If he's a bit further away the same joystick movement sees him handing out a hefty (but slightly poofy in my opinion) leaping kick. Further away still, and Cap will hurl his shield at his foe (and it'll then return as if by magic).

So there we have the basic idea. A fairly standard beat-'em-up with a Marvel Comics' Character tie-in. And the backdrops are - well, you can see from the screenshots. But what about the animation and stuff? It's time for me to don my very own superhero outfit (You poof. Ed) and give you the verdict. (Sound of someone zipping up a purple body-stocking with glitter on the shoulder-pads.)

Ahem. Right. Um, the sprites are quite big. Erm, actually that's the best point - things go downhill a bit from there. The animation is jerky and a bit on the slow side. The feel you get when you clout someone, or when they clout you, is a bit limp (ie not 'crisp', if you know what I mean). There's a weedy sound to accompany the blow and one of the bars at the bottom of the screen gets a 'notch'smaller. (When your bar reaches zero you're dead, when his bar reaches zero he's dead.) Another problem is the width of the playing area - because of the size of the sprites it's hard (well, impossible actually) to put much distance between yourself end the super-villain you're fighting, and what's more the sprites can actually 'stand behind' one another. So there you are thrashing madly away to the sides while the Grey Gargoyle (for example) is standing there obscuring most of your body.

All in all (and I don't like saying this but I have to because I'm wearing my superhero costume) Spidey And Cap in Dr Doom's Revenge isn't really that brilliant. I personally always judge this sort of game against Target Renegade, and in this case Dr Doom's Revenge takes a six-nil thrashing. However, if you're a total beat-'em-up freak then the game's certainly hard enough to keep you busy for quite a long time, and if you're a total Marvel Comics freak there are enough super-villains and heroes on offer to satisfy you completely - plus the nice touch of static comic-book screens introducing the levels. Right. Now to get out of this purple body-stocking. Oh no - the zip's stuck! Aaaargh - and someone's at the front door! Oh no! How do I explain my way out of this??!? (It's probably a job for Excuse-o-man. Ed)

Label: Titus
Price: £8.95
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Comic fans rejoice! Spider-Man and Captain America are teamed together for the first time (on a computer at least) in this latest adaptation from the famous Marvel Comics universe, Doctor Doom's Revenge.

Doc Doom, who you secretly probably want to win anyway, has pinched a nuclear missile and is threatening to detonate it over New York. Spidey and Cap. as you are informed in the colourful accompanying booklet comic, have teamed up after a chance encounter with a gang of bankrobbers, and, since the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are having the weekend off, it's up to our two heroes to break into Doom's castle, duff up his assortment of super-goons and save the day.

Trouble la, while this might have been an excuse for all sorts of platforms-and-puzzles malarkey a la Batman, what the game actually consists of is a series of combat scenarios interspersed with comic-style introductions - Cap meets Rhino, Spidey meets Electro, ho-hum.

This wouldn't be all bad, but the backgrounds are poorly drawn, the characters are very messy (looking as if they've been designed with the digital equivalent of a pen with a bent nib), and the animation is something to be ashamed of. When Cap leaps over the head of a guardian robot, you can practically count the frames of animation as he jerks through the air.

That said, the combat sequenced are quite challenging; you have to determine which moves work best to sap your opponent's power, and the fighting moves available change according to your distance from your enemy - shield throw, high kick, web cast and so on (Spidey, incidentally, has a limited number of webs to work with). For instance, in fighting a guardian robot, get as far away from him as possible and just keep flinging your shield - this will soon put enough dents in his tin head to put him out of action (at which point Cap does a pansy little dance of triumph). The same tactic won't work with Rhino, though, 'cos he just keeps up close to you and butts you senseless, at which point you get the worst end-title screen I've ever seen in my life - a screen full of orange and yellow dots captioned "what New York looked like after the superheroes failed." Hah!

It's good fun seeing some of your favourite baddies, such as Hobgoblin and Electro, coming to computerised life, but overall this is a very stale idea, not very well executed. "FOOOOM!". as Stan Lee would probably have said.