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Ronald McDonald - the friendly face of American cultural imperialism. From Tokyo to Moscow, the pale-faced geek in the orange fright wig beams down at you, imploring you to buy a McMuffin and a chocolate shake. Now Ronald and his cronies have invaded your ST with the latest licensed game from Virgin.

McDonaldland is a cutesy platform game for one or two players, starring Mick and Mack, two streetwise kids in trainers and baseball caps who are prepared to do anything to get Ronald off the hook. You see, the Hamburglar has stolen Ronnie's precious Magic Bag and it's your job to find the nastiest spam sandwich in town, get the bag back and return McDonaldland to the cheesy all-American paradise.

The action takes place over six different lands - Ronald's Clubhouse, Birdie's Treehouse, Grimace's Highlands, Professor's Workshop, CosMc's Retreat and Hamburglar's Hideout. Within each land are six further sub-levels, accessed by a level map.

In single-player mode you play Mick and have to leap around each screen collecting objects, avoiding obstacles and bopping baddies. The main objects you need are the Puzzle Cards to progress onto the next land and the Golden Arches, both modelled on the McDonald's "M" logo. Both Mick and Mack have special abilities like the ability to dig, jump and throw and you're also given four lives and three continues to help you.

The first thing you notice is that Mick and Mack seem to have a life of their own - the joystick controls aren't very responsive and you either end up doing something too late or not at all.

The characters also have an annoying habit of sliding about all over the place, even if you only nudge the stick once. This gets incredibly aggravating after a while as you fail to make vital progress through the game. The graphics also grate - you expect to get cutesy kiddie graphics in platform games, but McDonaldland looks and plays like something written five years ago. The animation's awful too, and the characters also have an alarming tendency to walk off platforms and the just hang there in mid-air! The in-game chip music is also irritating - it's a bit like hearing a tone-deaf robot sing the Birdie Song at a 24-hour karaoke. Thankfully, you're given the option to switch the tuneless bleeps off at the start.

Oh dear, oh dear. McDonaldland's a pretty awful concept to start with and it's sadly let down by inferior graphics and lousy gameplay. It's hard to believe that either Virgin or McDonald's actually want to be associated with this game. Despite all these criticisms, McDonaldland is actually quite addictive and your kid brother is going to love it even if you don't.

1. The two-player option is best and, if you've a mental age of ten or under, you might find it curiously entertaining.

1. Cheesily American in an apple-pie and mom kind of way, the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired too.