“Chakan” was a fun game to play, but was never worth purchasing.

User Rating: 6 | Chakan GEN
“Chakan” for the Sega Genesis followed the exploits of the sword-wielding Forever Man, which was an appropriate name, seeing as how the title character looked like the walking dead with a hat that appeared as if it would be better put to use on the head of a pilgrim.

Throughout “Chakan,” the player maneuvered the Forever Man in and out of multiple levels, each of which bore more than a striking resemblance to previous levels. Through each level, the player pitted the Forever Man against all manner of beasts.

In order to accomplish his mission, the Forever Man was armed with twin swords, which he wielded like the Highlander. New swords would be earned as the game progressed, and each set had a special ability; one set turned enemies into ice, another set would emit powerful electric discharges, and so on and so forth. The Forever Man could swap his swords at any time, dependent on which special ability best-suited the level at hand.

“Chakan,” like so many other videogames on the Sega Genesis, suffered from repetitiveness. After a short while, the only variety in the game was the manner in which the player would dispatch the hordes of enemies. While the graphics were impressive, Sega apparently traded gameplay for appearance, which was an endemic trait of many Sega Genesis titles. “Chakan” was a fun game to play, but was never worth purchasing.