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It's tough being a fading movie star; the offers start drying up and that promised starring role to relaunch your career just never seems to arrive. All that's left are Maxwell House adverts and You Bet. Such as it is, Baloo the Bear has decided to forsake his leafy residence in favour of the city's bright lights and, hopefully, more gainful employment.

Years later, we find Baloo unsuccessfully managing his air freight firm 'Higher for Hire' with his 'young friend', Kit. Times are hard everywhere and, when the chance to win an unbelievably huge business contract (that would secure their ailing firm's future) is announced, Baloo and Kit find the temptation just too much. All they are required to do is to retrieve ten boxes of cargo from nine exotic locations. However, they are in competition with Baloo's old jungle nemesis, Shere Khan (who is also managing an air freight business!). Also, they have to complete their task within seven days if they are to secure this lucrative contract and hold onto their business. To make matters worse, the skies are patrolled by the fearsome Sky Pirates led by the evil Don Karnage.

This new two-player game from Sega puts you in the boots of the cuddly twosome as they wade through swamps, balance atop roofs and flee Don Karnage in a race across the skies to locate the precious cargo.

TaleSpin, the game, is based on the latest Disney cartoon series of the same name.

Help Baloo and/or Kit to collect at least ten crates of cargo from nine exotic locations.

Collecting the cargo is one thing, but transporting it back to base is another problem entirely. When the azure-blue skies are swarming with the air pirates of Don Karnage, Baloo and Kit have really got their work cut out! As Baloo pilots the Sea Duck in a stomach-churning display of aerobatics the hapless Kit is left to trail behind on a flimsy Air Foil. Gulp!

One Player Game: Those who choose to play Baloo have things relatively easy. Tackling the air pirates is simply a case of the standard Up, Down, Left, Right and Fire tactics and ignoring his partner's plight. Kit's ordeal is just that little bit harder because he controls the movement of the Sea Duck as well as the Air Foil.

Two Player Game: Co-operation of the highest order is necessary when separate players are in control of the two aviators. Player one, as Baloo, beats the most responsibility as the fate of Kit lies in his piloting paws. Kit, meanwhile, is left to depend on his Air Foiling finesse and Baloo to preserve his fur.

Because of his diminutive stature Kit holds the advantage over Baloo in the clambering stakes. Kit is noticeably more agile and is far better at gadding about the platform scenes from his corpulent partner. The most obvious talent is Kit's ability to spring from deep waters onto nearby platforms. This saves much time messing about taking the long way round in some situations.

Baloo's only advantage over it is that his paddle-ball is better at taking out the opposition - and he can hold his beer better!

When the boxes of cargon are collected, it's time to move on to the next location. The bears pass through the customs office en route to their aircraft and are accosted by an irate customs officer. There is a different officer in each country, every one sporting his own weapon with which to tan the bears' hides, so don't expect Baloo and Kit to get away with the same tactics every time. Mindlessly hammering away with the sling shot or paddle ball just doesn't work.

The problems presented to Kit and Baloo in their search for cargo depend largely on the nature of the location in which it is found. The very first tentative steps in the Caribbean are greeted with squelchy quick-sand and collapsing bridges. From then on, the challenge of the natural surroundings becomes greater and require more thought regarding the best route to take. Quite often there is more than one path to the customs office from the starting position and so careful consideration saves much wasted time.

There are many occasions when both Kit and Baloo encounter a platform that appears tantalisingly out of reach. This is where a spot of ingenuity comes in very handy.

Scattered around the various locations are empty boxes that function as portable steps. The two bears may carry up to three boxes at a time and drop them at strategic points to access all areas. Wise use of these steps uncovers such goodies as extra lives.

Full marks to Sega for offering something unexpected with TaleSpin, namely the shoot-'em-up sections. The exploration parts of the game would work well too if it weren't for the awful faults in the programming.

There is some very dodgy logic going on here. It starts with some ridiculous concepts in the gameplay department and reaching new peaks of unfair collision detection in some situations. The fountains and fire hydrants are the culprits in this area.

One of the most ridiculous problems that springs to mind is the way that water from a fire hydrant causes both Baloo and Kit so much damage, whereas swimming underwater in the caves causes no problems at all.

In a two-player game, the person controlling Kit plays a sad second fidle to Baloo and is encumbered by his bumbling antics. Surely the split-screen type feature of Toe-Jam And Earl would work better.

I fear that the furrow in my brow from prolonged playing of this game may require plastic surgery for its removal because TaleSpin is so annoying. Experience Mickey and Donald's World Of Illusion for a more satisfying escape from reality.

The basic concept behind TaleSpin is quite good, splitting the action between platform and shoot-'em-up levels. Sadly, the implementation is dire and spoils everything. The controls are unresponsive and "floaty", with Baloo drifting around like a ghost.

The collision detection is very bad indeed - there are certain enemies who require only a single hit to kill, but no matter how hard you try you can't hit them for toffee!

The last straw must be the stupid two-player mode. Having Kit dragged along after Baloo is very frustrating, especially if the Baloo player makes a mistake and the other player pays the price for it.

There's loads of cartoon platform games out there, including the spectacular World Of Illusion, and the all-right shoot-'em-up bits don't do nearly enough to warrant the purchase of TaleSpin.

Presentation 77%
P. An attractive cartoon-like introductory story. A selection of options available to tweak.
N. Nothing outstanding though.

Graphics 79%
P. The images from the cartoon are easily recognisable in their video-game forms.
N. Poor animation. The shoot-'em-up sections look quite tragic!

Sound 80%
P. Happy tunes and amusing effects suit the attempt at a joyful game.
N. The laborious gameplay is such that the melodies start to grind on the nerves.

Playability 44%
N. TaleSpin rivals Fantasia in its dreadful playability caused by poor collision detection and stupid game design.

Lastability 57%
P. TaleSpin's appeal is severely marred by the lacklustre playability and so its long-term interest is very limited indeed.

Overall 59%
A great licence opportunity put to waste. TaleSpin makes a couple of brave attempts at new ideas that are sadly let down by a careless lack of playtesting.