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There are two Go!/Rainbow Arts games this month. One is Bad Cat, and the other is Jinks, a horizontally scrolling "Breakout" variant.

The objective is to direct a small ball across the landscape to the goal at the far right. The interim landscape contains many hazards, including static barriers which hamper progress, and moving objects which damage the bat on contact, decreasing its size or destroying it completely. There are also one-way walls, which allow the ball to pass in one direction but stop it returning, blocks which disappear on contact with the ball and panels which reward the player with specific items when hit: extra bats, extra balls or bonus scores.

When the ball has been successfully guided into the goal-mouth, the 'interlude' screen is entered. A ball and small bat appear, together with four panels labelled in numerical order. Access to the next level is dependent upon which panel is first to be hit by the ball, allowing the player some control over his immediate destiny.

The four landscapes are increasingly difficult to complete and, once the fourth has been negotiated, all four levels are made more hazardous by the inclusion of alien creatures, contact with which is fatal.

Don't be fooled by the screenshots and scenario on the packaging. This shoot-'em-up lookalike is simply an unusual, and quite innovative, "Breakout" variant (more of a "Breakalong" really).

The game is nicely presented with a lovely options screen, and very polished. It has smart graphics and the music, which is unusually tuneful, uses some great voices. Co-ordinating bat and ball is rather tricky at first, but the way in which the ball bounces is very realistic and once mastered, Jinks provides quite an entertaining pastime - for a while, at least.

Addiction soon wears off due to the limited amount of landscapes, and the lack of a distinct end game also does nothing to promote play.

To its credit, Jinks sports some lovely bas-relief backdrops and has a great soundtrack, but unfortunately the good impressions are dispelled in the light of play.

The gameplay is very tedious and involves chasing the ball up and down the horizontally scrolling landscape. I never felt I had control over what was going on, and that success was dependent on luck rather than skill.

It's so frustrating to bash the ball all the way down one end of the landscape, and watch it career past the bat all the way back to the other end. I ended up feeling like I was playing piggy-in-the-middle between two large basketball players!

I definitely wouldn't feel too happy spending a tenner on Jinks.

My immediate reaction was surprise at how original the game idea is - but it soon became apparent that what we have here is another boring bat 'n ball game. I have nothing against such games, but when they're as repetitive and simple as this I start to become concerned.

The implementation is great - nine presentation, colourful backgrounds, realistic bounces and the like - but the action holds no long-lasting appeal due to its small play areas and pointless sub-stage - in fact, it has very little overall content. Not recommended.

Presentation 84%
Plenty of options available from the superbly polished menu screen.

Graphics 82%
Pleasantly coloured and detailed backdrops and some effective sprites.

Sound 89%
Great title music and sampled speech, good sound effects during the game and plenty of classy jingles.

Hookability 62%
The fiddly control method is very offputting, and the action is limited.

Lastability 46%
Once all four landscapes have been attempted, the urge to continue soon fades.

Overall 48%
An original idea, sadly lacking substance.