Well, all I can say is thank goodness they decided to do a third one, because if this had been the last in the James Pond series, it would have been a disappointing end. While James Pond 3 gets loads of things right, James Pond 2 although regarded as cool and even (possibly) revolutionary at the time, doesn't. In fact, it's an awful game.

Okay, the right eight or nine levels are fun and intriguingly big, but when you realise that there are something like eighty levels, all basically the same, the fun begins to quickly wear off. And after an hour or so of playing level after level, jumping here, stretching there and bouncing off this and that, the game quickly loses any appeal it started with.

It's not badly drawn or animated. There's no duff sound or bugs. It's just that it's completely boring and utterly predictable.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of those great computing game mysteries. [What, like the 'Whatever happened to Scooby-Doo In The Castle Mystery' mystery? - Ed] Why does everyone but me seem to like it so much? Eh?