Wilder than any of our own cartoon creations, the Hebereke are a bizarre collection of fluffy midgets and marshmallows in baseball caps. There may be some great significance which the language barrier prevents, but it's lost on us. They're a hell of a cute bunch anyway.

Hebereke Popoon is not the first game to feature the mob, but it is their first Tetris-type puzzler. It's also Marubeni's first Saturn game in the UK, the first of many we hope. And Claire Coulthard got very excited at the prospect of all these cuddlies coming into the office at deadline time. And that's the Hebereke Popoon story. Oh, it's heb-a-reccy, by the way.

In the one-player mode, the aim is to rid each level trench of the little things jumping about in them. (Very technical about games here at Mean Machines.) That's imply a matter of joining like-coloured falling blobs into groups of four, which then pop. So: jumpy things, falling blobs, pop. That's the drill.

Hebereke provides more than its fair share of sugary sweetness, but it's bizarre enough for even the most cynical adults to enjoy. Simplistic sprites trundle about the screen, and there's always a crowd of little characters doing their own thing as you play. Utterly lacking in style, yet strangely cool.

Things take, in our estimation, a more interesting turn in two-player battle mode. The screen divides into two troughs, with players trying to avoid their blobs reaching the top, again by linking groups of four. He who lasts longest wins the round. The opportunity for some excitement comes from creating chain reactions of exploding blocks. This is rewarded by an attack pod, punted across to your opponent to cause some distress.

Hebereke are a set of mad Japanese cartoon characters, and Popoon previously appeared on SNES.

Much like Tetris - block bashing in one- and two-player modes.

This game, though not looking much, was quite widely anticipated in the office. Good Tetris clones always get a warm welcome at Mean Machines. Ultimately I have to admit to feeling rather short-changed.

The single-player game is a megabore in my estimation - I'd rather play against a computer opponent than play on my own. And the fact it took about two goes to crack the eight stages was mighty unimpressive.

The two-player game is also decidedly underbaked. There seems to be a limited range of attacks, and the initial one - the only one realistically possible on a regular basis - has no visible effect! Couple this with the bizarre physics, as blocks stay suspended if attached to others at the side, and you're left with quite an average puzzle game.

The little penguin's my favourite. And the squirrelly thing that waddles along the bottom of the screen. He's good. Anyway, as cute as all these little fellows are, you don't expect to shell out your hard-earned to watch a cartoon.

You expect to play a game. And there ain't much of a game here. This is a fairly amusing spin on Tetris, offering more mobility to the tumbling pieces and extra twists like 'wild-card' blocks.

In fact, it's an entertaining combination between Tetris and my old childhood favourite Connect 4. But this doesn't even begin to update or adapt either to a standard worthy of the Saturn's capabilities. Cute penguin though.

Graphics 68%
P. Very Japanese, and amusing.
N. But there are mostly cack.

Animation 47%
P. What there is is quite nice.
N. Little else but beans in a downward motion.

Music 64%
P. That jolly bouncing stuff used by Tetris games and torturers. Very apt.

Effects 49%
P. The mass popping frenzy that greets your demise is curiously satisfying.

Playability 65%
P. Two-player mode is alright.
N. The single game is tedious.

Lastability 42%
N. Might hold your eye until something (anything!) resembling Tetris appears.

Overall 47%
Thumbs up for the Hebereke characters. Thumbs down for the lack of depth in Popoon.