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Go quackers with the star of stage, screen and broom cupboard, Edd The Duck! Regular follower of Children's BBC (me included) will know all about this little yellow fellow. He rose to stardom along with such personalities as Andy Peters and Simon Parkin on the daily TV spot. The only thing that separated him from these megastars was the fact that he had a hand up his botty!

Edd's task is to travel through different departments of the BBC, collecting 20 stars as he goes to become the ultimate star! He begins in the weather department, then special effects and finally into Children's TV. Contact with Wilson the butler's hand, or any of his cronies, result in the loss of one of Edd's filming takes. When all four takes have been used up, filming stops and Edd heads down the stardom dumper.

Luckily for our feathered hero, the special effects mob have come up with a snowball shooter for him to use. Firing this at any opponents freezes them for a few seconds, giving Edd just enough time to zoom by.

There is no mistaking that Edd The Duck is a tad similar to Rainbow Islands: cartoon-style graphics and the vertically scrolling levels make you shout "It's the Islands!" as soon as it loads up! Thankfully, the gameplay's slightly different. Edd jumps from platform to platform collecting the stars and freezing the nasties to get to the top. He can jump through the walls of large blocks to get to stars and if he touches anything deadly, he reappears where he left off.

Progressing through the departments of the BBC is great fun, as long as you're careful and don't charge about. Precise jumping is needed to collect the 20 stars on each level and mapping as you go is advised - that way you'll know what hazards are coming up.

Edd The Duck is obviously more appealing to younger Speccy players, although it's quite hard. The best thing about reviewing the game was the research: an afternoon watching Children's BBC!

Overall 83%
A colourful and very playable push for stardom!