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Oooooh! I'm feeling positively wicked after playing Jack The Nipper. And what a rotten little begger he is too. Jack's sole aim in life is to amass points on the "naughty-o-meter". This is very simply done, simply by being bad.

Now, a naughty nipper would be pretty ineffective were he without means of wounding a passing grown-up. Jack is hardly defenceless, though. In the first room, he'll discover a pea-shooter. One civic-minded adult has no doubt put the offending item out of harm's way, atop a shelf. With a bit of childish ingenuity the item can be easily obtained.

Now he's armed, and ready to go. Moving through the hallway and out into the street, Jack waddles around with an air of sheer mischief. The graphics are great, and very reminiscent of the Sweeny Toddler cartoon strip. Scores on the N/meter are tough to amass. Pea-shooting everything in sight may work for a while, but eventually you will find yourself being chased by a horde of miffed adults, dogs, shop assistants, swotty schoolkids and ghosts. Of course, sensible people don't believe in ghosts, and so they can't see them. Logic, eh?

The sound on the game is very good, with a very melodic tune plinks and plonks away in the background, while all the sound effects zoom and ping at the appropriate times.

Now, as every nipper knows, the most ghastly fate to befall them is the dreaded smacked bott. If you get caught with intent to commit a naughtyness, then you're in for a stiff dose of nappy rash. Once your rash gets to critical level, you lose a life.

At the end of the game, you will be given a rating to indicate quite how horrid you managed to be.

There are lots of nice touches. The buildings you have to enter have invariably wacky names, such as the Hummo Sock Factory. There are bill posters on the walls, too, advertising everything from soft drinks to "jumbo nuts". The real fun comes whilst plotting nasty activities. Should you take the battery to the computer shop and fuse all the machines? Or could you mix the battery with another item, to make a more devastating impact?

It takes a lot of practice to see the potential of a truly wonderous naughty, and a lot of planning, too. Dropping objects from a height will destroy them, so you need to be careful while you are juggling the items.

The screen is shown in semi-3D, and Jack can move in and out by using the diagonal joystick positions. They're a little weird, but not difficult to use.

Walking Jack into dangerous places: like a radiator, will cause severe nappy rash.

Jack The Nipper is very good indeed. Go and break open your little sister's piggy bank and buy it!