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Five million people apparently know and love Potsworth, a dog, regularly following his adventures on the small screen. Where these people are in the world is a magic of computer science you can actually join in and direct his and his friends' dreamtime adventures. There's some complicated wibble about the Dream Zone, the Nightmare Prince and searches for the Potion of Slumber, but it's best if you just ignore that and get on with working your way through the five levels of this platform game.

You take the part of different characters - chosen neither on grounds of sex, country of origin nor membership of the human race - as you scroll and work your way around the different backgrounds. While all the levels are set in a variety of places, your tasks remain essentially the same - you have to explore thoroughly and pick up objects, avoiding enemies and solving puzzles as you go.

The first person you represent is the obnoxious Rosie. She's your token English girlie who went to ballet lessons as a five year old and never quite got out of the habit of pointing her toes delicately when jumping from platform to vicious spike. Rosie's other personal qualities include a great capacity to shout - persumably supposed to be the female equivalent of shooting nasties - she just picks up a handy loudhailer and screams people down. She lives in a cave and is on a quest for the five parts that make up a hi-fi. Unfortunately, Hi-Tec appear to have forgotten that caves are generally cold and damp places, not really suited to the long-term storage of batteries.

In Level Two you're Nick, the 'Super Duper Man' - well, that's what the manual says - and you have to get to the top of the Suspire state building. You have the ability to carry heavy weights on your shoulders with extreme ease - although the mark "10" could equally mean grammes, rather than tonnes presumably. Using these weights seems to be the key to progress - but don't be fooled, the combination of the weights and vacuum tubes just doesn't work. Going up the tube is fun though - rather like Snakes and Ladders except without the snakes or ladders, but with that level of effort.

You only get to meet Potsworth when you've got as far as the third level. You're in the middle of a table at a children's birthday party - lots of gooey cakes, jelly pots, ice creams, candy cones and ice lollies, not all of which are as pleasant as they seem. Here you've got to puck up chocolate beans, which to start with is relatively easy and, finally, satisfying - if you don't feel thoroughly sick at the thought of all that sweetness, anyway.

And so it goes on as far as the climax where you're reincarnated as Potsworth - after playing the world's greatest artist and a skateboard wizard - and you get to throw bones at the Nightmare Prince. And that's it.

On the negative side, this isn't actually very interesting or brain-stretching. Some of the puzzles in the earlier sections are pretty tough, and unless you're incredibly determined, you're more likely to be frustrated and want to give up and get onto the next level than hang around completing one which has lost its appeal. Each of the levels involves different skills and thought processes, however, making Potsworth And Co. essentially a selection of sub-games, and so novel for a while. The later levels especially are fast-moving, and the graphics certainly improve as you progress through to the bright and detailed carnival scenery of Level Five. While the other levels don't have the same detail, a lot of thought has evidently gone into its overall appearance, from the peppermind green of the background of Level Three to the clouds and rainbows in the following level. Sound is, as usual, not worth a second mention.

Overall, Potsworth And Co. is fun for a short while, but it doesn't offer anything new, exciting or original that can't be found in plenty of other platform games. Buy it only if you have £26.00 in your pocket and you really can't think of anything else at all to spend it on.

1. Magic Pockets is a better buy, both for graphics and gameplay.
2. This is more likely to make you irritated and want to give up and get onto the next level than keep trying just that one more time.
3. Pretty tough in places, and pretty graphics throughout.
4. Expertise with the joystick is a great bonus if you want to finish this game.