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When people see loads of creepy-crawlies their immediate reaction is to either scream hysterically or pour boiling water over them. Not this time. Rob Mead proves he's a big nit by looking at himself underneath a microscope

Have you got a sweet tooth? Well, the long-dead artists who invented the mythical world of Cartoonia did. There was nothing they loved more than drawing pictures of floppy bunny-wunnies, playing with coloured bricks and gambolling in the fields. One day Matron brought round some particularly succulent cream cakes, which the greedy people finished up in one gulp. Unfortunately for them, Matron had laced the goo with poison and they all died a spectacularly grisly death.

Unaware of their masters' fate, the residents of Cartoonia continued their cute existence until, suddenly, the Princess Ladybug disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Reluctantly, her father, the king, sent out a message to his loyal subjects, asking for their help.

In stepped Doodlebug, the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the insect world. "Young man," said the king, "before you embark on your quest I must give you something to help you on your way." "An Armalite and a few grenades should do the trick," retorted Doodlebug. Instead the king handed over four crappy pencils and a rubber. "I was going to give you the colouring book as well," said the king, "but I haven't finished with it yet." With these words ringing in his ears, Doodlebug set off in search of the princess.

Doodlebug follows in the wake of a whole genre of games on your ST - the cutesy platformer. Like James Pond and Parasol Stars before it, Doodlebug offers you a squeaky clean animated hero, brightly coloured backgrounds and baddies so endearing you want to hug them to death. It's a game for people who never graduated to wearing long trousers. But does it offer anything new? Erm, no.

As usual, the action takes place against a backdrop of themed levels - Toyland, the Forbidden Forest, Fortress of Fear, Crystal Cavern and the Capital City. Within each level there are also three sub-levels and a bonus stage where you do battle with an end-of-level guardian. You have to leap around each level against a set time limit, gathering collectibles and defeating various meanies including fire-breathing devils and football-mad snails. Not all the characters you encounter are evil, some offer helpful advice or sell you various modes of transport - cars, spaceships and submarines - which are crucial if you're to finish a level. However, most of the time you're on your own and this is where the magic pencils are handy.

Each pencil has certain properties associated with it - throw the blue one to draw an umbrella, the red one for a balloon and so on. You can also throw pencils at baddies, but you're better off using the eraser - especially when dealing with the end-of-level guardians - because it acts as a kind of smart bomb. Another way of disposing of meanies is to use your spin attack. You do this by leaping into the air and pressing the Fire button on the joystick. This turns you into an impregnable Sonic-like blur, enabling you to come down hard on your enemies and destroy them.

For something that follows so hackneyed a formula Doodlebug is surprisingly good and even more addictive - you can feel the sweat dribbling down your neck when you realise you've only got five seconds left to complete a level.

The first two stages are pretty easy to get through, but by the time you get to the Fortress of Fear or the Crystal Kingdom, things start to get very tricky indeed. Collectibles become rarer and are found in increasingly difficult locations, while the baddies become ever resistant to the plethora of blows you rain upon them. Fortunately, you're given three lives and two continues, but there's no save game facility or any level codes, so once you've died for the last time you have to start all over again. This can lead to frustration.

The whole game is very reminiscent of James Pond with its parallax scrolling and cutesy playgroup sprites - and even the way in which Doodlebug gets around the levels in different vehicles. However, the gameplay is so rewarding that you soon stop making comparisons and just play for the hell of it.

As you've probably gathered by now, the whole game is controlled with the joystick. When you're on land, moving the joystick to the left of right moves you left or right. Pulling back on the stick enables you to select a magic pencil while pushing it forward makes Doodle jump. When Doodle's in the water or in a vehicle, you lose the ability to select items from your inventory and the joystick acts solely as a mechanism for moving your little chap around.

Moving Doodle around is a piece of cake, there is no jerkiness or delay in your ST's response. Graphically the game is great, with smooth parallax scrolling and massive end-of-level guardian sprites. Doodle himself is also well-animated, although he does seem to hang on rather precariously to the platforms at times.

The sound effects are the usual burps and beeps, while the music is the usual irritating rubbish. Still, at least you can turn it off when your teeth begin to grate and you start tearing out your hair.

Does your ST really need another cutesy platformer? Yes. While Doodlebug offers nothing new, it's still great fun to play. It's addictive and packed with playability.

If you're a hardened gameplayer, however, you may find you can finish it too easily. The concept and execution is hardly original, but even if you already own all of the ST's previous cutesy incarnations, you're going to find this one hard to resist.

Cutesy addictive platformer, hugely reminiscent of James Pond.

There are no save game options and it's extremely derivative.