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When you look at this game today, it's hard to believe that it was one of the very first Megadrive releases. Sega did an amazing job of reprogramming the Capcom arcade original for their 16-bit console - the port isn't quite arcade perfect but you have to look closely to spot the (minor) differences. Graphically it's brilliant, with nice bright colours and some lovely bold sprites. The only seriously negative point is the sprite flicker, which gets quite bad on some of the larger bosses, but this was a common problem in many early Megadrive games so it's forgiveable

It's a bit of a slow starter - you don't get the ESWAT armour until you're a few levels in - but once it does get going there's plenty of action. The range of weapons available when in ESWAT mode is amazing. Graphically the sprites are nicely drawn (if a little small) and some of the end of level bosses are quite impressive (considering the age of the title). The music is also of a high standard.

You start off unarmed, and thankfully the basic soldiers are also unarmed. You can knock them out with one punch. Soon you will, thankfully, find ammo, allowing you to carefully snipe down guards from a distance with your gun. Later you will also find weapons like rocket launchers. Be careful though, as they will fire at you too (Note that enemies can kill their fellow men too if they're in the way!). To evade these attacks, the game features some Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth moves, such as pressing against walls (Allowing shots to go straight past you) and opening doors without actually going through. If you're playing solo, the second player's screen will display all present enemy types in a stage and the weapons they carry.

Anyone who has played the Atari ST classic Dungeon Master (or one of the many clones that appeared in its wake) will know full well that first person RPGs can be a hell of a lot of fun. Back when Sega first announced Shining in the Darkness (often called Shining and the Darkness), the words 'Dungeon Master Beater' were paraded around by the specialist press of the era. Indeed, Sega's game did look mightily impressive and was tantalisingly full of promise. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

SitD is a very different beast to Dungeon Master. Combat isn't in 'real time', for starters – enemy encounters are totally random (as in most Japanese RPGs) and you don’t see your foe before the battle begins, meaning you can’t avoid them and therefore the fantastic games of 'cat and mouse' that took place in Dungeon Master are totally absent here. This proves to be something of a killer blow, as it removes any sense of being in a living, breathing dungeon. Knowing that your next battle is going to occur whatever you do removes any sense of strategy from proceedings, but anyone who has been weaned on J-RPGs in the past will probably have no issue with it.

If you need to be told about a Sonic game you must be new to games