Pandemonium 2

Release Date: October 23, 1997

Like platform games? Like jester with magic wands? Like bouncing around a 3D world crammed with mutant fish, electric bridges and giant lava lamps? Believe us, you will...

First thing's first, our Nikki looks a bit different this time out Gone is the boyish crop and prepubescent upper torso. Now our heroine sports a flowing main plus a set of lady bumps that could have your eye out at 15 paces. Sounds familiar? Of course it bloody does, but fret ye not ~ Nikki's Lara-alike makeover hasn't extended to the Puckish Fargus and neither do our dynamic duo have to paddle through shark-infested caverns in search of Incan artefacts. Nope, in Pandemonium 2 Nikki and Fargus have to thwart humanoid fish blokes, break free from ice prisons, hurdle malevolent plasma balls and, of course, try to avoid having their retinas frazzled by a barrage of happy-pill 3D graphics. Pandemonium 2, then — business blissfully as usual:

The first game, a chemically unchallenged 3D platformer with myriad camera angles plus gameplay from the gods, garnered 9/10 in PSMI4. And a year on, this long-awaited sequ is guaranteed to follow suit.

The premise remains much the same. Bored with summon' up monsters from the Stygian depths, this time our heroes must rescue the Comet of Infinite Possibilities from the Goon Queen Zorrscha's evil hoards and, as Sid ‘our narrator reveals in the FMV intro, much nasty stuff lurketh in the ensuing 20-plus levels. But given that Sid is actually Fargus talking wand with a Bronx accent and undulating eyebrows, you can rest assured that those Pandemonium fun levels are still whacked right up to eleven. As with the original, you can swap roles at the beginning of each level — Nikki's new-found buoyancy enabling her to bounce higher than a highly-strung Space Hopper, while Fargus’ forward-roll hijinks can obliterate all manner of beasties. Whoever you pick once you're past those simple first levels you'll be addicted, as no matter how many coins you collect or keys you find, you'll plummet to your doom again and again 4 master that level, scribble down the password and the agony begins anew.

But how different — or, more pointedly, better - is it from the original? Good news ~ the engine's faster than before and as Nikki hoicks herself on to a cliff and Fargus catapults off a spider's web in pixel-perfect perspective, the graphics will have you examining your Dr Pepper for stray ‘herbs’. Pandy 2 is also chocker with fresh monsters, fresher threats, plus the chance to fly a Robotech-style rocket through underground mazes blasting the bejabbers out of anything that moves. Add on a level where the now-mangled corridors of Fargus' mind are yours to explore at a zillion mph and, well, it’s that good.

But one question remains: Mind-altering vegetation? Dodgy coated Smarties? Tantric magick from the Planet Bonkers? Well, whatever it is Crystal are on, weld like some...