Straight from the fiery pits of Hades (and the folks at Capcom, of course) comes a devilishly addictive video game with action to spare. Based on the comic book by Todd McFarlane, Spawn has become a successful cartoon, a mediocre movie, an action figure, and, with the advent of Spawn: In the Demon's Hand, a video game.

Spawn's entry in the video game world is not so much a fighting game along the lines of Virtua Fighter, but more akin to a smaller scale Gauntlet Legends, with power-ups and weapons that lie around a 3-D landscape that's filled with ferocious enemies. Spawn: In the Demon's Hand offers three distinct fighting modes--team, battle royal, and boss--and features graphics that are so sharp, it feels almost like you're playing one of McFarlane's comic-book characters come-to-life.

Unfortunately, the game's controls are somewhat difficult to master--movement is controlled by the digital pad, and aiming is performed with the analog joystick. Add the incredibly quick action and multiple characters on the screen, and you've got what can be sometimes a confusing mess.

The faint of heart will be pleased to see that, along with toggles for the skill and volume levels, Spawn: In the Demon's Hand features a three-stage violence option that allows the player to ease the gore. Parents should note, however: even with the violence level turned all the way down, Spawn's idea of conflict resolution still involves a magic chain to the noggin. --Benjamin Reese

Pros:

• Incredibly rendered graphics
• Characters true to McFarlane's comics

• Nonintuitive controls can be hard to handle
• Some might be turned off by demonic themes and violence
• Easy to lose track of extremely fast action