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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the arcades, Ocean has gone and signed up another arcade deal wdh Nitchibutsu, and no, I don't know how to pronounce that either.
Okey-cokey, so what does one have to do in this 'ere program? Well, in a nutshell, as the last surviving member of the Cosmo Police you have to neutralise all the defences of the Cynep and eventually knock the Cynep's evil rule on the 'ed. To do this you have a number of weapons at your disposal, the only trouble is that you've got to find them first. And even then, keeping them ain't particularly easy, 'cos as your power is drained through combat your weapons are whistled away leaving you completely arm-less. Now you're only left with your bare hands to fight with.
Once you've got through one level of nasties then you have to fight a Giant Demon. This Demon is multi headed and each bit that fires at you must be killed separately. Not an easy task at the best of times.
The play area looks something like Domark's A View To A Kill and with most of the fighting going on with fists, the complex structure which Imagine has tried to generate deteriorates into nothing more than a Karate punch-up.
The graphics aren't particularly wonderful for Imagine, nor is the sound and I can't say I was thrilled to bits to play the game.
Personally I reckon that if you want to start fighting multi-headed beings then your time would be better employed writing threatening letters to the Ed.

Verdict: 6/10
Review by Pete Shaw

One by one the brave members of the Cosmo Police tackled the unspeakable evil on the planet Cynep. Alas the wallies all failed in their bid to rid the Galaxy of the Cynep rule. Now there is only you, Galvan, left. All alone you must try to achieve what many have failed to do before. Using your wits and ingenuity you must scour the planet Cynep, venture deep within its Techno Caverns, and attempt to kill each one of it's evil inhabitants.

The planet Cynep is populated by some very strange and dangerous beings who are extremely possessive about their domain. Rampaging robots turn out to be pretty talented with the old left hook, and before Galvan can manage to pick up a weapon he is forced to box it out with these scowling metal machines. Apart from the robots there are the native aliens. These aliens seem to appear out of nowhere and their attacks are sharp and accurate. To begin with you only have your bare hands to defeat these nasties. Even against the robots this is quite difficult but when up against the fast moving flying aliens you really don't stand a chance.

Things however are not as futile as they may seem. Those Cosmo Police who went before you, left their weapons behind as a sort of morbid reminder for those who were to follow. These weapons come in the form of power pyramids. When Galvan first picks up one of these power crystals it provides him with the ultimate hand held weapon - the Blue Bolt Neutraliser.

As usual there's a snag; when Galvan's power is drained to a certain level his weapon becomes less effective. First it changes to an Arc Blaster, then to a gun, and finally you're on your own again with just your fists. Luckily the power pyramids are scattered quite liberally, they can also be collected from space-suited aliens when they've been killed.

Apart from the minion nasties, the end of each of the Techno Caverns is guarded by a ravenous multi-headed demon. Before Galvan can progress any further into the game this monstrosity must be destroyed. Each part of the demon must be shot four times before it is rendered harmless.

This life-and-death-mega-battle takes place at several different venues. These range from the arid platforms to the Techno Caves to deep underwater, where savage sting-rays and salivating sharks are already sharpening their molars in anticipation of an early lunch.

Galvan moves around the planet Cynep on foot. When necessary however, he can leap to great heights in order to avoid something nasty or to get to a higher platform. Galvan has five lives, and one of these is lost each time his power level reaches zero. There is also a two player option.



CRITICISM
'I can forgive IMAGINE once - for Tennis - but when they start to bring out games like Galvan, then I start to worry. I can't see what IMAGINE think that Galvan has got. It's certainly not the graphics, and the sound is nothing special either. The way that the screen scrolls (in all directions) would be very nice It ft actually worked, instead it turns out to be jerky and of offputting. I'm not too impressed with Galvan and I'm very unhappy that Imagine have started to release this inferior stuff.'

'On my first go of Galvan I felt somewhat chuffed on reaching the first Demon. But then I reached another, that Galvan has got. It's certainly not the graphics, and the sound is nothing special either. The way that the screen scrolls (in all directions) would be very nice if it actually worked, instead it turns and continued the same game for more than a quarter of an hour; this, by my standards is not the sort of difficulty level I expect to find in any arcade conversion. The scrolling is very poor, and the sound is a further reflection of the games lack of polish. This is definitely not up to Imagine's usual standard. Pull your socks up, IMAGINE.'

'This is the sort of game you can play for half an hour on your first go, get an enormous mega-high-score and then never play again because it was so boring! Legging it around the incredibly large playing area zapping, shooting or punching hundreds of nasties (and surviving by luck alone), didn't really get me going. The graphics are very messy and disappointing. The action takes place on a tiny section of the screen which scrolls abysmally, and the use of colour on some screens makes it difficult to tell what's going on. The sound too is pretty dire, with few effects. On the whole I'm disappointed, it could have been much better.'

COMMENTS
Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, Cursor, Sinclair, Fuller
Keyboard play: fairly good
Use of colour: colourful, but attribute problems
Graphics: very slow scrolling
Sound: a totally unsyncopated tune at the beginning with spot effects throughout
Skill levels: one
Screens: jerky scrolling play area
General Rating: Will disappoint arcade devotees.

Use of Computer 63%
Graphics 64%
Playability 67%
Getting Started 71%
Addictive Qualities 67%
Value for Money 62%
Overall 65%