They're back. Back! BACK! And it doesn't seem like a month since they went away, either. Yep, after last month's Mega Drive and Master System outings, the video game world's cutest suicidal Norwegian mammals have made it to the Game Gear. This hand-held incarnation is practically identical to the one on the Master, so I won't bother telling you anything about it - you can just go and read last month's issue again.

Well, go on, then.

Can I have the money now, Andy? (I think not - Andy)

Damn. All right then, just for anybody who wasn't listening properly last month, let's have another quick rundown (tsch, kids these days, no attention span, bloody MTV generation, thump thump thump and you can't hear the words, can't tell if some of 'em are boys or girls, not like it was in my day, etc etc). In Lemmings, you play a sort of benevolent god of cutesy furballs with a penchant for hurling themselves off large precipices. There are hundreds of the little rascals, but you don't get to immediately control any of them - instead, you have to save them from doom by making them perform various tasks, like building bridges or digging tunnels or, er, blowing themselves up. Hopefully, doing this will change the layout of the numerous peril-strewn levels into such a style that the little lemmings will be able to safely wander from the entrance to the exit without coming to any harm. If you save enough of each screen's quota (the percentage requiring salvation increases as the game progresses - in the early stages rescuing one or two will usually be enough, but later one mistake and you'll probably be knackered), you get to go on to the next level, and that's it.

Now, the thing about Lemmings is that in order to fit lots and lots of little lems on each screen, the character graphics are really titchy. I mean, we're talking about sprites that make Super Off-Road's look like Sonic The Hedgehog here, and you might be forgiven for thinking that putting something like that onto a tiny Game Gear screen would be an excellent recipe for instant eyestrain. And, of course, you'd be entirely correct. Make no mistake, playing this for more than a couple of hours at a time will give you peepers like a couple of over-ripe tomatoes. BUT, luckily, you don't actually have to play it for more than a couple of hours at a time, as the game generously gives you a password every time you successfully complete a screen. Hurrah, eh?

And that's about it, really. In every other way this is just as brilliant a game as the Master System version which got 89% last month. So why don't you go and buy it, hmm?

SOUND 7

ADDICTION 9

BRAINPOWER 10

UP-TYPE STUFF

Well-designed control system

Will last you yonks

Passwords aplenty

Tons of character

Skill levels for every talent

Blends brain-busting and fire-button pounding

DOWN-TYPE STUFF

Will play havoc with your eyes after a while

SEGA POWER SAYS:

Just as good as the Master System version, but with unavoidably fiddly graphics. They're not really a big problem though, so go for it.

88%