Realm

Unheralded and unexpected, Realm is one of the season's better SNES games.

You play a cyborg that leaps upward through trees, scales castle walls, and blasts every moving thing in sight with an array of futuristic guns. Don't let the simple shoot-em-up gameplay fool you: This is one tough game. In these four huge worlds, you face hundreds of enemies, bosses take forever to vanquish, and extra ammo and health are rare. Expect to start over frequently once you enter this Realm.

The colorful graphics show fine attention to detail and boast imaginative settings deep in the game. However, your cyborg and the enemies move pretty stiffly, and the annoyingly repetitive disco music doesn't fit in. Realm is a well-crafted throwback to Gunstar Heroes-style gameplay that will deliver a much-needed blast of excitement to bored SNES owners.