Fantasy-themed arcade game in which you play a beautiful babe who's quite proficient in the art of magic. Her job is to embark upon a quest to find a lost meteorite. News has it that the falling star is the source of the evil that is spawning all of the evil creatures that have begun to plague the lands. Only one person is strong enough to fight their evil spells and save the day. That person is you – Alisa Dragoon.

Alisia Dragoon is the female protagonist of this fast-paced platform game. Alisia must destroy an evil demon and avenge her fathers death through eight stages. She has only one weapon to dispose of enemies: thunder magic. This magic is auto-aiming and can track multiple targets. However, the game is quite hard as the levels are loaded with fantasy-inspired monsters. Using thunder magic reduces a magic gauge, meaning you often have to wait for it to recharge. Once fully charged Alisia can unleash a massive rolling blast of lightning across the screen.

During the game, you can improve your magic by picking up potions. There are also four monsters which accompany Alisia: Dragon Frye, Ball O'Fire, Thunder Raven and Boomerang Lizard. Each has different abilities, deciding which, if any, to use in a given situation is part of the challenge. These monsters, like Alisia herself, are fully upgradeable with power-ups. They can also die if weakened too much, forcing you to hunt for a reviving power-up. You can pause the game and select your companion at any time.

The game play is simple to get into, but requires a little management. Alisia has a thunder attack that homes in on enemies. The attack charges automatically and unleashes itself on all enemies onscreen when it's full. She can upgrade her attack power by collecting powerups throughout the game. There are also extra lives and energy to be had. Many stages also have secret rooms that contain vital powerups. Since you only have one life and continues are few and far between, you'll need to hunt down all the goodies you can.

Alisia also has a little monster companion who helps her in battle. There are four that can be changed with a press of a button: a dragon that breathes fire, a little floating fireball that burns enemies with its body, a boomerang-throwing lizard, and a flying reptile who's thunder attack takes out all enemies at once (when it's charged). Your companions take damage and can be killed, however, and finding a revive powerup isn't easy. Fortunately, you can find meat to cure them. You can also raise their life bars with additional powerup goodies.

Alisia herself is animated well enough, as are her enemies. Little details, like her hair flowing when she jumps down, are a nice touch. There are a few fog warping effects on some stages that are nice to look at but again, nothing really stands out, at least until the later stages. .

The music is excellent. Mecano Associates scored a great medieval sounding soundtrack that I will have to obtain somehow. The sounds are well done too. Alisia's little yelp when she gets hit isn't that appealing but the crashes and explosions are very cool.

The solid game mechanics, cool graphics, and great soundtrack will hook you in and keep you playing until the very end.

Alisia Dragoon features:

• You're Alisia Dragoon, the best gladiator in the world
• Use your multi-directional laser to blast the enemies
• Recruit friends to aid in the battle
• Cool graphics and special effects
• One-player only