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Doodle Bug is not your average type of, er, doodlebug. As far as I can remember a doodle bug was, in fact, a flying bomb which the Germans used to fire in our general direction during the Second World War, mainly because they were too scared to 'come and have a go' themselves. Playing that sort of doodle bug (also known as a V2, history fans) wouldn't make for a very exciting game - I mean, what would you do apart from roughly face yourself towards London and let rip? But enough of this...

This Doodle Bug is in a spot of bother. You'll never guess what's happened - the stunningly beautiful Princess Lady-Bug has been kidnapped by a mysterious dark figure and only one person can save her... That's right, Les Dawson. Actually, that last bit's not true - I made it up in an effort to improve the drastically unoriginal plot but you weren't fooled, were you? Yes, it's Doodle Bug who's out to save the day. Armed with a set of pencils with which he can draw some pretty tasty weapons, Doodlebug begins the long and arduous runny-jumpy trek across the scrolling world of Cartoonia in an effort to rescue the Princess and generally become the all-round hero.

After the recent likes of Zool, Fire & Ice and The Addams Family, Doodle Bug really has to impress to stand out from the platform game crowd.

Maybe if it had been launched a couple of months ago, Doodle Bug would have cleaned up and become an enormous success. I'm sure it'll still do well but, perhaps unfairly, it just seems to be 'yet another platform game'. The graphics are better than most - although the main character doesn't seem to have the personality of, say, Zool or Robocod - and the sound is jolly.

However, the gameplay is a little slow - it's certainly not as manic as Zool, or as playable. Perhaps the main reason for this is Doodle Bug's fragile nature - you see, he can't fall too far without dying. Although, one presumes, this is meant to encourage the use of Doodle Bug's 'special powers' (that is, drawing an umbrella a magic pencil to float you down to safety) it just seems so unnatural now after so many games have allowed you to fall miles unscathed.

Doodle Bug is nicely presented, well designed and playable - let's make no bones about it, it's a good game. But there are so many others in the genre to choose from now and Doodle Bug doesn't really offer anything superior or different to what's gone before for it to make much of an impact.