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Babies, as everyone knows, are horrible, screamy, smelly, small things that will spew up over your best jacket as soon as look you in the eye. [How dare you, my baby William's lovely! Retract that last sentence or I'll drop a giant picture box over the whole review - Ange] Sigh. Okay, sorry, let's start again...

Baby Jo is a sideways-scrolling jump-'em-up in which you play a baby (called Jo) who's a superhero-type person. He's a pretty naff superhero really, though, 'coz he's lost in the countryside and wants to go home to mummy. (You never saw Superman wandering round a field blubbing!)

Anyway, the object of the exercise is to steer Jo back home to the loving arms of his mother. This involves loads of levels of spitting flowers, killer mosquitoes and raging fires.

Graphically, Baby Jo cuts plenty of pickle. Everything's very detailed and colourful, the sprites are pleasantly large and the scrolling (half a screen at a time) is reasonably smooth. Like all French games, it looks lovely.

Unfortunately, behind the graphics lies one of those zero-gameplay pursuits so beloved by Amiga owners. And everything moves so slowly and laboriously. Jump, run, jump, jump, run, die. Zzzzzzz.

The levels are horribly short, but difficult enough to have you screaming (you can't avoid taking hits). It does feels completable, given a hefty amount of persistence, though it took us a week to get off level one. (But we're useless!)

There are plenty of power-ups around, including first aid kits (heal wounds), rattles (weapons), balloons (give you a lift) etc. There are worms to jump over, platforms to leap from, and everything you'd expect from a cutesy platform game. As an interactive cartoon, Baby Jo has a little appeal, but not enough to make up for gameplay as addictive as a Boots 'banana, soft cheese, grape and walnut sandwich (Try one - they're disgusting!).

Baby Jo really does look terrific - very pretty and very cute. The jerky scrolling gets on your nerves, though, and Adam's right, the gameplay just isn't there.

Get to Level Three.

Graphics 91%
Wonderful cartoon-style art and animation.

Sonics 0%
A new concept in games for the deaf.

Grab Factor 56%
Baby Jo isn't the most exciting of games.

Staying Power 33%
Nor is it the most addictive or challenging.

Overall 35%
French games always look pretty spectacular, and usually play that way too. Unfortunately, Baby Jo doesn't.