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Guide Bruno over six levels of platforms and pitfalls, keeping him away from spiked objects and harmful enemies.

Something is very wrong with Bruno's head, but being a young Ottifant - a kind of miniature Elephant - he's really no different from anybody else his age. Excepting that he has landed the starring role on a new Megadrive game from Sega. In his mind Bruno imagines all kinds of weird things and is currently convinced that his father is being held prisoner by extra-terrestrials. In reality Mr. Ottifant is merely working late at his office. However, the trail of jelly-babies dropped from Daddy's briefcase en route to work this particular morning is playing havoc with Bruno's imagination. Using the trail of sweets as a guide, this infantile-elephant explorer treks through six make-believe worlds in order to rescue his father.

Just to fill you in, the Ottifants are cult cartoon characters in Germany at the moment. Apparently Ottifant books and an animated television series are major successes with our European brothers and sisters. Whether or not this platform game is set to convince the English games-playing public of their credibility is another matter entirely.

It is said that elephants never forget but this isn't entirely natural and is something of an acquired skill. Bruno has yet to master the art and is constantly losing track of where he has and hasn't been.

In his fantasy world, Bruno has decided to trigger Jack-in-the-boxes as reference points which prevent him from getting lost. In the game they also serve as re-start points should Bruno become completely overwhelmed by his enemies.

Bruno is always racking his brains for new ways to justify his craving for ice lollies. To this day his parents remain unconvinced by each one of his ten good reasons. You see in Bruno's dreams, ice lollies are the source of many super powers which serve to aid the little lad in his adventures. Just for good measure Bruno is required to eat three before the deliciously-cold citrus flavours take effect.

Of course, it's nice to have variety and so different flavoured lollies and combinations of the same impart different abilities. Here's a taster of just a few:

1. Springs
   Lime, Lemon and Raspberry lollies provide Bruno with the power to bounce higher in the air with the aid of a double jump.
2. Speed Shoes
   Slurping on three lime-flavoured lollies boosts Bruno's speed for a time.
3. Super Spit
   The least Bruno could do is keep the confectionery in his gob, but no! Upon swallowing mouthfuls of one lemon and two lime-flavoured ices he spits the whole lot back out again! Tsk.
4. Super Ottifant
   Dumbo has nothing on Bruno when it comes to aerobatics, but only when he's Super Ottifant and only once he's eaten three lemon lollies.

An Ottifant's trunk is useful for more than just watering the garden and snaffling munchies. All things considered, Bruno is quite the funky trunker! For defence he spits colourful beads at his enemy who hate this so much they self destruct in anger.

However, Bruno's piece de resistance is his almost god-like sucking ability. Should Bruno encounter platforms that are out of reach he engages his tremendous vacuuming powers to draw said long-distance ledge towards him. Elsewhere, Bruno triggers switches, dropping blocks that are used as mobile steps and using his sucking skills to transport these blocks around.

Graftgold are one of this country's leading developers, with years of quality game production behind them. Gods, their first Megadrive title, continued their tradition of quality software production. This game from the same company is extremely disappointing.

The graphics are a mixed bag - some of the levels are great, some have visuals worse than some Master System games (level one for example). The sound is a similarly mixed bag. However, it's the gameplay that is the game's worst problem.

The action is utterly unoriginal - the platform gameplay is very similar to Cool Spot and Global Gladiatores with very little variation between the levels. However, when you're paying over or around £40.00 for a game, you expect a lot more.

Basically, what's the point of buying this when there are games like Flashback, Rocket Knight Adventures, Sonic II and Tiny Toons available for the same price?

An exceptionally forlorn piece of unremarkable software and a sad day indeed for one of the country's best development houses.

I've yet to enjoy an episode of The Ottifants, and I'm unlikely to ever appreciate this rather typical platform game in which they feature.

The look of the game is very well crafted and there are some nice ideas but there's no affinity to the game's central character who is given no chance to really prove himself within the confines of this below average adventure.

Apparently Bruno is something of a Bart Simpson character with a wild imagination but there is no evidence of that here. Instead the player suffers along with Bruno through six similarly styled levels that all feature fatal spikes and the opportunity of falling right off the bottom of the screen with no prior warning.

Of course this is very annoying as it is so unfair. Without these problems the gameplay is extremely obvious and therefore easy. There is no compulsion to collect the jellybabies neither is there any need to take advantage of Bruno's ice-lolly driven super-powers.

Honestly I can't think why Sega wanted to license this game at all. Wallet-busting £50 price tag? I don't think so.

Presentation 78%
P. A pretty representation of the six areas Bruno is to explore sets the game off well.

Graphics 82%
P. Nice scenery. Bruno is animated well.
N. The enemy sprites are small and lack flair. Some backdrops are dire - and why has Bruno got an enormous black outline?

Sound 71%
P. Some amusing screams and whoops arise on occasion.
N. Generally the sounds offered here are akin to supermarket muzak.

Playability 72%
P. Bruno's use of his trunk is a neat touch. He also responds well to commands.
N. Unfortunately, Bruno doesn't have anywhere interesting to go.

Lastability 66%
P. The levels are tricky and you're unlikely to finish the game in one sitting.
N. Sadly you're unlikely to want to finish it at all!

Overall 68%
Quite a well presented platform game with a couple of novel ideas to prevent it from being completely dull. The pretty graphics aren't enough to do Bruno and his pals credit.