"Decent early Genesis title."

Introduction- If you could sum up pure action in one word, it would be ''Rambo''. In 1988, the third movie had been released, and while I don't think it's quite as good as the first two, it's still one of the best action movies ever (and leagues ahead of any of the Missing in Action flicks). Jump to 1989, the Genesis is brand new, and Sega wants a game to prove that the system is superior over the NES. It's almost common sense, take a recent blockbuster movie, and use it as one of the first games on your system.

Story (7/10)- Well, the thing with action movies is that you never look for more than an outline of a story. It's all about the action, and this game gets it down fairly well. Colonel Trautman is captured by the Commies, and Rambo must save him.

Gameplay (8/10)- Simple, but I like it. Following in the footsteps of Rambo: First Blood Part II on the Sega Master System, this game is scene from a top-down perspective. If you've played Ikari Warriors, you'll understand. You don't just advance up the screen, though, some stages require more. One early stage has you run through a dungeon, trying to find a captured secret agent. Once found, you have 2 minutes to escape before the whole place blows up.

You have your trusty machine gun with you, complete with endless ammo (always preferable). You also have a knife, some bombs, and the exploding arrows. The bombs and arrows have a limited supply of ammo, so stab enemies or blow up various things to gain more.

By far the coolest part of the gameplay is the vehicle/boss stages. For these sections, the game takes a third person view. You control Rambo as he tries to destroy a helicopter, tank, etc by firing arrows at it. It plays well, and really keeps the game moving.

Graphics (7/10)- This game has a copyright date of 1989, and is one of the earliest Genesis titles. Let me tell you, it looks it. Digitized characters seen in cutscenes don't look especially impressive (the NES did digitized pictures that are comparable, just look at Batman, though the NES was 8-bit and could get away with it), and the graphics in the overhead stages could've been done by an SMS (really!). But, you really can't expect more from a game from 1989.

The behind-Rambo vehicle battles, on the other hand, look excellent, and raise the grade one point by themselves. Rambo is well detailed, and is even seen tightening his headband before the battle. The various vehicles look great as well. Not only do these sections play good, they look good, too.

Sound (4/10)- The game doesn't do well in this department. What little music there is sounds okay, but isn't very memorable or attention grabbing at all. The sound effects don't sound realistic, and are only there to keep actions from being silent. I know this is 1989, but I really think the sound could have been done better.

Replay (6/10)- Not bad, but after finishing the game, I doubt you'll want to go through it all over again for awhile. Still, it's always fun to plug the cart in and pump lead into bad guys.

Overall- Not very well remembered or easy to find, but worth a search. It's a pretty good early Genesis game, at least by other early Genesis title standards. The worst aspect of the game is the music, and you could always mute that and put on some of your own music (or the actual Rambo III soundtrack). This game is hardly legendary, but it provides some nice entertainment on a lazy Saturday.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/16/04