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My ancient grandfather always used to sit me on his knee and say to me, "Never trust a thin yellow brother and a fat orange brother, especially if they're both wearing dark glasses." And do you know what? He was right.

Robo and Robo (aka the Bonanza brothers) are thieves, you see. They're cat-burglars of the finest order. Their job is to break into secure places, disable any guards and security devices they find and, er, break back out, having liberated as much dosh as poss'.

And despite looking incredibly stupid, the brothers are very successful at this. So much so, that they've got cars, yachts and villas in France. But now the bad news. The brothers have retired. They no longer nick stuff. Instead, they spend their days sitting on a sofa and watching children's telly. Theirs is a life of ease.

Brringg brringg! Oh no! What's that? [It's a phone you dimwit - Ed] No, this is part of the review. The 'phone rings in the Bonanza Bros household. They answer it and on the other end is an extremely wealthy person. He's got a great idea. Apparently, rich people worry a great deal about their stuff being nicked and who better to test your security than two idiotic-looking ex-crims?

Mobo and Robo agree that, for a fee, they'll break into the rich guy's house and pretend to nick a load of his gear. All the security precautions will be activated, and there'll be guards with guns to make things tougher.

This is where you step in. It's a horizontal scroller in which you (and a friend) can wander around each building (ten to 20 screens). Dotted around are the prizes you've got to nab. But, of course, there are piles of guards too. So you can't just rush up to the goodies, bag them and bug out. You've got to study the guards' movements, work out where their routes take them, then stealthily creep up.

Or you could just shoot them. Both Mobo and Robo carry weird sort of marshmallow-firing stun guns. These knock out guards for a few seconds. The trouble occurs when the guards carry riot shields. The marshmallows just bounce off these, so you've got to manoeuvre yourself behind them in order to shoot them in the back. Not very sporting, but since when has breaking into people's houses and relieving them of quality items been sporting?

Oh, and even worse, some of the guards have marshmallow firers as well. They don't stun you, but take more than a couple of hits and you lose a life.

Now we come to the interesting bit. Bonanza Bros is best approached as a two-player game. The screen is divided into a top half and a, um [Bottom half? -Ed]. Yes, indeed. Each contains one of the thieves in the centre of the screen, and scrolls separately. So Mobo and the other one can split up and do more filching apart. Or, if you like, you can simply trail behind your mate and wait for him to alert all the guards, before nabbing the swag for yourself.

The split-screen business works well. It really is like playing two games at once, except that you can obviously talk to the other player and work as a team.

Helping you in each location is a map which indicates the general layout of the building. So you can see where all the stairs, dead-ends and toilets are. Very useful because it can get scary being a tea-leaf.

Controlling the characters is tougher than it first looks. This is because you actually do have some 3D movement into and out of the screen. Using this properly is the best way to get past guards, but until you learn how it works, it will make you say some of the rudest words you know.

Okay, so you've mastered the control system. What's the game like to play? Well pretty darn good. Moving round the houses is weird, and if you can avoid the guards, you've really got it sussed. But sooner or later, you have to deal with more of them, blocking vital stairways or doors to dead important rooms.

And you can't loiter around for too long because each level has got a fiendish time-limit.

This is a lot of fun, indeed. But not real cat-burgling, where the idea's to get in and out without anybody actually noticing you. Here, you end up knocking everybody out, then trampling them in the rush for the loot.

The graphics are smooth, colourful and rather enjoyable. The houses are filled with peculiar furniture, and it's all a bit of a weird dreamland. Even the music's strangely funky.

Bonanza Bros is a different sort of a game. It's got platform elements, plus the two-player split-screen thing. But it lacks that certain something which would make it a Corker. I think it's just not frantic enough. Pity.

1. Control is a bit fiddly, and takes some getting used to.
2. The action sometimes dies down into boring sorts of lulls.
3. Only half the screen is used in one-player mode.

1. Nice 3D-ish views of the buildings you explore.
2. Funky sounds go well with the weird style of the game.
3. Lots of different ways to complete each house keep the interest high.
4. Two-player mode is brill and really the best feature.
5. Later levels have large, fun-to-explore houses, full of guards and people to stun.
6. Animation of main characters is small but neatly done.