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Anyone who is sorely missing The Flintstones should warm to Chuck Rock. Set in the Stone Age, it features Chuck as a slob of a caveman whose wife has been kidnapped by Gary Fritter, the local lounge lizard. Rescue is obviously called for and this is where you come in.

The game is a fairly standard platform romp across many prehistoric levels. There are also some watery areas that you can cross only by swimming. Naturally, the going isn't easy - the local wildlife go out of their way to harm you.

Fortunately, you can use the rocks lying around either to swat the monsters or as stepping stones to help you access otherwise unreachable areas. You can't jump very far while carrying one, though, so some forward planning is necessary.

Other forms of defence are the belly-butt and the sharp kick. These manoeuvres help you to sort out most critters. You can also collect extra energy and bonus objects which improve your score.

The sprites in Chuck Rock are superb. Not only is the animation excellent, but the graphics are wonderfully humorous and almost cartoon-like in design. Most of the creatures have such a deadpan look you'd can't help feeling that they'd rather be somewhere else. Chuck drags his knuckles convincingly too.

There are other unexpected touches. Belly-butt the red elephants for instance and each splits into two smaller versions of itself. Chuck Rock also has a really good opening sequence - even though it borrows heavily from The Flintstones.

Unfortunately the sound doesn't mach the visuals in quality. It's just normal soundchip spot effects. Some sampled thuds and grunts could have made a real difference.

Chuck Rock is a straightforward platform game lifted above the crowd by its humorous and enjoyable graphics and puzzles. Long-term interest is slightly in doubt, though, because when you die you must start right back at the first level - there are no ways of restarting where you left off. Because of this, and because the game offers nothing new, it isn't quite a Format Gold. It's still very enjoyable, if only for the graphics, but have a good look before buying.