ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal was the ultimate gem of a game that went mostly undiscovered due to poor media coverage back in the 1990's when all the attention was focused on the then "A"-list titles. Needless to say this excellent and divinely beautiful and inspired game passed under the radar and faded into obscurity.

This re-release enables the game to be played on modern systems and new operating systems. The game play itself works well, with occasional glitches, such as the main character "Amy" literally losing her head. Also controlling a mouse cursor in any of the menus feels extremely laggy with the cursor taking a while to respond and jumping instead of moving smoothly. Hopefully this will be addressed in a patch sometime soon.

Players duel fairies in various arenas and capture them in orbs (Pokemon Style) to grow their collection. The game is a fantasy RPG adventure at the core. There are many hours of fun to be had and many areas to explore. There is a solid story which unfolds in bits and pieces as the player explores further and uncovers more of the puzzles and mysteries.

Despite the glitches in menu, this game is still every bit as entertaining and engrossing as it was when it released. This is by far the very best game I have ever had the privilege to play.

10 / 10