Zool

The Good
Visually things look reasonably good, and the game is fairly long, as well as featuring some surprising new ideas, although many are overused (such as the piano).

The Bad
The level designs are extremely generic and repetitive, with a succession of clichéd settings and originality-free enemies. Control is sluggish and cumbersome, especially when attempts at scaling the walls. Zool himself just doesn't inspire any emotions, as he's a lifeless creature with none of the dynamism of Sonic, the individuality of Toejam & Earl, or the sheer cutesiness of Bubsy. The various tunes are all rather bland, and nowhere near what the Amiga was capable of. There was no support for multi-button joypads, which would've made the control much easier, especially for anyone familiar with console titles.

The Bottom Line
Looking back, I think the hugely enthusiastic reception this game got was for all the wrong reasons. The Amiga lacked a console-style 'mascot' and wasn't well-stocked for great platform games - would this alien ninja be the perfect one? After all, the game looked consolesque and was big. The reality is very different, as the game is lacking any kind of sparkle. People appeared to review the game based on what they wanted it to be, not what it was. It's a shame that Lionheart and Tearaway Thomas were released by smaller companies, as they would've been a much better demonstration of what the Amiga could do. The second Zool game, which was never released for the consoles, was actually far better.