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What's yellow, looks fluffy and bounces but is instantly punctured when it's touched by a needle? A tennis ball? A balloon that's wearing a furry coat? No, it's Fat Filbert, the star of Manix whom you play in this bounce-around, memory teasing colour-of-tile-changing game.

Manix consists of 128 "scenes of fun" - arrangements of different coloured tiles set in the midst of an ocean. Or a puddle. It probably doesn't really matter since either way Filbert is pretty allergic to it - instant death is on the cards if you should mistakenly bounce into the water.

You get the chance to look at each scene briefly before bombs drop out of the sky onto the tiles - this changes them from their initial landscape-type shades to a rainbow of different hues. Your task is to change them back to their original colour by bouncing on them. This isn't actually as simple as it sounds since you have to avoid spikes that grow up from the tiles, acid pools that shrivel you to death and irritating ninja balls that also change the colour of tiles and potentially kill you. And that's about it, really.

Filbert doesn't have to play on his own - if you've got a suitably gullible mate, Bulbous Bilco (handily distinguished by the presence of a blue ball on his head) can also join in for the two player mode.

In the standard game, you don't actually have to remember what colour you're aiming for - as you do in the puzzle game - since the colour of the tiles cycles through different shades until the correct colour is reached. When all the tiles have been restored, the screen turns black and white and you can move onto the next scene. Once you've completed each scene in a level, you're given a password which enables you to start the game from later levels and modify particular aspects of the game in the custom kit.

Although the plot might sound simple - as indeed it is making the game immediately accessible - Manix does present a challenge. The later scenes and levels are increasingly difficult - and equally, more interesting: there are angled tiles to negotiate, increasing numbers of bonuses to collect and more dangerous objects to avoid.

In the end though, the best things about Manix are the bold and colourful graphics. It's not going to tax your brain - though it might wear down your joystick-waggling hand - and it's highly unlikely to keep you awake all night for "just one more go".

1. Bright and cheerful graphics and the "bouncy" music are Manix's best features.
2. Immediately playable - Manix doesn't need weeks to learn the intracacies of, like Another World for instance...
3. But this means it's not going to keep you interested for very long.