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Whenever I come across a new game, the would-be ace programmer in me first wonders how it's been programmed. Anything new? Anything I could do? So I was immediately prejudiced against Caveman Capers, with its crude 2D graphics, long-winded death scenes and dreadful sound effects. It was then that I noticed everyone else seemed to love the thing.

All around me queues were forming, queues of games players reacting to Caveman Capers as a game, not as a program. And as a game, it's absolutely superb.

Just three controls are used to manoeuvre Ogg the Caveman, who's trying to use a turtle as a skateboard, while jumping over toadstools, barrels, holes and frogs, and dodging under snakes, pterodactyls, and dinosaurs in a garish, fast-moving landscape. It makes an ideal family game, since players are able to master early levels using just the jump key, while those with loftier ambitions soon find that an ability to cope with more than one key at a time is essential for further progress. Dodging under pterodactyls while leaping over holes, for example, needs accurate positioning using the Z and X keys before jumping with RETURN, and some obstacles come so fast it's vital to take a running jump at them. The game proves incredibly difficult as the skateboard picks up speed, and I've only seen a few of its sixty levels.

Caveman Capers: the programming may be rough and ready but as a game it's fast and it's funny. They like it!

Bernard Emblem