Can't touch this

Daring to tempt fate, Kevin Costner plays Chicago-based prohibition enforcement agent, Eliot Ness, the leader of The Untouchables in the 1987 movie of the same name. Aligning with pragmatic beat cop and anti-corruption crusader, Sean Connery, he mounts a tireless campaign to bring Al Capone to justice during the inebriated-as-ever 1930s era of booze-banishment. Robert de Niro - seizing the megalomaniac villain role with a zealous flourish of meshuga - talks the talk, yet is no match for the might of America's elite tax evasion squad.

Ocean Software's multi-system game of the same name released in 1990 attempts to mirror the pivotal events of the blockbuster movie, seamlessly blending first and third-person shooter genres with platforming and top-down arcade action. A solid enough accompaniment to the movie, showcasing a deft finesse for diversity without deviating from the tried and tested Ocean mini-game pastiche.

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There may be troubled waters ahead

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Kevin Costner faces the prospect of whiling away the rest of his days floating in a desolate ocean aboard a trimaran following a regrettably inconvenient icecap-melting incident. With seemingly little hope of survival (or even the desire to), The Mariner scours his waterlogged home planet for dry land and civilisation. He's not actually that fussed either way, being an aquatic mutant perfectly adapted to his new-ish environment. Nevertheless, other survivors he meets along the way are more concerned and so he reluctantly goes along for the ride, despite not really understanding his motivation.

No doubt you'll be familiar with the movie, if only because it's considered the costliest mistake in Hollywood history. Also of dubious logic was the decision to transform it into a console video game for the SEGA Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. Appropriately enough, Ocean Software believed they were up to the challenge, splitting the epic movie into its three core components in an effort to offer players more variety. Its disparate levels take place either aboard Kev's powerless sailing boat, swimming underwater or on foot and 'land' wherein he explores the makeshift floating Atoll islands or The Deacon's tanker, known as Exxon Valdez. I attempt to salvage anything I can from the wreckage of both mediums, exploring the connections between the two.

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