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As you may have guessed, Jack is just a nipper, and a naughty nipper he is too. Or, at least, he wants to be! This is the weird but wonderful storyline of Gremlin's delightful new game.

You are Jack, and your sole malicious arm is to go around the town trying to be as naughty as it's possible for a tiny tot to be.

There are two real ways to cause bother. The main one is to pick up objects and drop them where the most damage is likely to be caused. There are a mass of different objects to be picked up, from floppy discs to poison. The other way to annoy the simple locals is to obtain a pea-shooter and - splat! - them and basically anything that moves.

Your bad behaviour is measured on the Naughty-o-meter. The more trouble you cause, the higher it will rise, until finally, when you hit 100%, you make 'Little Terror'.

When you just drop an object the Naughty-O-Meter will go up around 2%. Experienced mischief causers will know that dropping an object in a position that is positively chaotic will cause your level of mischief to shoot up by a good 10%. For example, if you find poison and drop it on the flowers it should kill them and therefore cause a lot more damage than if you just drop it on the toy shop floor.

To pick up objects you first reach them by jumping on top of various pieces of furniture. When you eventually reach an item, you must put it in your pocket by pressing a key. You can only hold two items at once as you only have two pockets.

There are over twenty locations around the town, each one drawn accurately with excellent detail. The characters are vividly animated and even go purple with rage each time you commit a misdemeanour in their territory.

The locations include a park, a graveyard and a false teeth makers! Between you and me, I'm going to let you in on a secret. There are also some hidden locations which enable you to reach objects otherwise out of sight or reach. (Try going into the bank with a key!)

This all might sound like a piece of cake for hardened nasties! It isn't. I haven't told you about the Goody-goodies who tan your hide if they touch you, which raises your nappy rash level! When your nappy-rash gets too high, you lose a nipper. Lose five nippers and your trouble-making days are over. The townfolk are very tolerant people until you try their patience too far, say by shooting them - they get real mad and chase after you.

When the game ends you are given a percentage and a rating. I'm on 25%, which might sound reasonable but means in fact that I'm a 'Weedy Wally'. [Suits you! - Ed]

As if this wasn't enough embarrassment, Gremlin have kindly given us reviewers a Please-can-you-help-me-I'm-a-wimp phone line! Especially for people like... [You! - Ed]

Somehow I can't seem to place what separates Jack The Nipper from most of the games we receive; it's a bit of everything, and yet it has a touch of originality (full marks for those of you who noticed it's one of the new games in the issue without a hint of karate). The graphics are excellent, with large characters and sharp animation, but the sound is lacking to put in an "I'm a little 'orror" mood. There's no tune and sparse sound effects. I'm sick of being a wimp, and you ought to be too, because, despite my reservations you'll feel twice as wimpish if you miss out on this terror.