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Gumphrey has been aptly named because you don't have to be an ageing, short-sighted store detective to get very annoyed with the customers and staff in this particular department store. His task is to complete jobs in the store without getting himself sacked. Needless to say, everybody else seems determined to make life as had as possible for him.

The store has five main floors made up of 39 screens, which are connected by corridors, the main lift or an escalator. Each screen is shown in 3D with Grumpy able to walk in front of and behind the unattractively designed objects and shop counters. Grumpy is a well rounded figure who waddles about the place in search of something to do, and although the animation is good he and the other characters are too small for this to be appreciated properly.

His tasks are many and varied but failure to complete any of them, particularly where the boss is concerned, is bad news. Early on in the working day of nine to five Grumpy will have to take the boss his tea and clear the shop of ducks (no I don't understand either so don't ask!). Later on you may have to supply the boss with booze or even put out a fire.

All of the tasks can be completed with the 20-odd items that are found in the various departments. Grumpy can carry three at a time, so knowing where each one is so he can get to them quickly is important. One particularly nice item is the skateboard that allows you to whizz about faster than usual - very handy. This is the adventuring element of the game and will cause some problems and hard thought to hold your interest.

If Grumpy fails to complete tasks, bumps into customers or generally incurs the boss's wrath, his gauge will gradually run down - when exhausted, it leads to a warning letter. Four of those and he's out on his ear without so much as a redundancy payment or pension. However, for every success, his score goes up, as does the player's satisfaction rating.

Unfortunately, someone obviously had the idea of introducing shoppers who would hamper the tasks by generally getting in the way. This is where the gameplay falls down because they would drive anyone completely barmy. They make control difficult because they bounce you in all directions and are difficult to avoid because they're all over the place, usually three or four to a room, and I haven't found a way of repelling them.

They come in all shapes and sizes: old women who call you a clumsy oaf, hippies who stop you to tell you something of mind-numbing interest, pipesmokers who bounce you harder than Big Daddy and most annoyingly of all thieves who even knock the objects you are carrying out of your hands. There is no respite from this January sale madness and it spoiled the adventure element for me by making the whole thing immensely frustrating.

The package is otherwise very agreeable, with plenty of tasks to complete, locations, objects, decent graphics and a nice title tune. Show me one more shoplifter though, and I'll snap my joystick.

I have a lot of sympathy for Gumphrey, but the same things that make him grumpy made me unable to help him. The shoppers are infuriating. Why hasn't Gumph got a gun to shoot them?

P. Good 3D graphics.
P. Plenty of tasks and objects.
P. Nice touches like skateboard.

N. The shoppers are incredibly frustrating.
N. Many graphics are too small and lack colour.