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Grab your special flying trousers and spread that pixie dust because Hook has arrived. Does it evoke happy thoughts or does it deserve a panning? Lost Boy James Leach finds out.

What's it like in the computer version of Neverland, then? [Wasn't it called Never Neverland in the original JM Barrie classic? - finnicky Prod Ed] Well, I must confess I haven't actually visited the place, even in my dreams, so I've only got the film to go on. But Ocean have made a pretty decent effort to capture the strange historical fantasy atmosphere of Spielberg's movie.

When you load up, the first things you see are some rather swanky graphics of Hook and Tinkerbell - shortened, for some obscure reason, to Tink throughout. Tink flies around the screen looking pretty and getting in the way of the words. In fact, this is a good effect and looks dead sweet (probably even better than Julia "slightly-overrated" Roberts). [You'll be saying you fancy Wilma Flintstone next - Ed].

Next a map of Neverland appears. Here you must choose the places you want to visit. To finish the game, you've got to do the lot, (though not all are available from the start - some levels are only reachable once you have completed others) so you're bound to get to see everything if you keep playing, but it's nice to have this choice of where to start.

And with little further ado (except a longish chunk of loading time) you're whisked into Neverland. And there are plenty of varying gameplay styles waiting. If you're on the ground, you have a pretty standard platform game. You've got to collect scattered objects, get Tink to follow you and avoid or kill a variety of nasties with your special sword (which may be special but looks rather weedy as it darts in and out during combat).

Of course, Pan can fly as well. He's not very good at it, though, so needs happy thoughts (don't we all?) to stay in the air. These are attached to balloons sent up to him by the Lost Boys, a group of piratical kids who live in Neverland and are basically on your side. Hook and his nasty pirates send up dynamite-laden balloons to try and destroy you. So, er, you avoid these. And while all this is going on, you must keep out of the way of any other baddies who might wander on and mess with your best efforts. Even a thunderstorm gets a look in to cause you misery and ruin those precious happy thoughts. The flying sequence works well - it's hectic and you've just got to keep grabbing the correct balloons in order to keep going.

As well as the flying and the arcade platform sequence, which does actually look like a console game, there's a fighting bit. Basically, Rufio, one of the Lost Boys, decides you're a bit of a dweeb, and intends to prove it by chopping you into seriously small pieces with his sword. Fight on, dude, because you get to chop back!

It must be said that games with different gameplay styles in them are certainly entertaining. Ocean have got Hook right because there is a distinct atmosphere which runs through the whole thing. But there are also a lot of different things to do in the different sections. We're not talking about a simple (if big) platformer here. We're talking about several games rolled into one.

So if you've beaten your way through the various zones in Neverland, you've avoided walking the plank and having to survive underwater in the Sunken City (deep breaths needed here), you get to the ultimate challenge - trying to beat Captain Hook himself in a straight sword-fight (well, you can use curved swords if you want). It's like the Rufio battle, only a lot more difficult.

But Hook has one major fault; many of the sections just aren't that difficult. The platformy bits can be rapidly beaten. Sections such as the Underwater Zone are slightly more testing, but don't really redress the balance. Concentration. That's the key. You'll beat the game with little trouble if you put in a bit of thought.

The graphics are both impressive and, once you've seen most of the sections, a bit of a let-down. Plenty of thought has gone into how the whole thing looks, and, as I said earlier, the overall style is consistent. But the main sprite (and here I'm talking about Peter Pan, not Tinkerbell, who's a "real" sprite) doesn't have quite enough colour. Some of the backgrounds are a little under-detailed as well, giving the game that console-y look. It's okay, but the C64 is capable of more.

The sound effects are pretty good, it a little sparse. There's a jingly tune, which you can switch off when you get fed up with it. It's not Mozart, but there is much worse around.

So let's see. We've got an impressively large game (with the penalty of having to wait for bits of it to load). There are some decent graphics and good sound effects. It also has a certain individual style which is great to see in a licence of a such a stylish film. But Hook is just too easy. Its size doesn't make it hard to get through. If you're a good game-player, you'll have this one cracked before you can say, 'the third star on the right and carry on 'til morning.

A pirate is defined as, 'one who breaks the law at sea'. In the 16th century, everybody was at it in the Spanish Main (or the Caribbean, as we now call it).

There were two sorts of pirates. There were the ones who were named after the colour of their beards, like Yellowbeard, Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Pinkbeard and British-Racing-Greenbeard. The other sort of pirates were those named after a part of their anatomy that was missing and had been replaced. For example, Peg-leg Pete, One-eyed Jack, Wooden-spleen Tim and No-toenails McCoy.

Pirates had their own curious language. Here I've painstakingly translated it into modern English:

"Have at ye, varlets!" Please accept this book token with my best wishes.

"I'll keelhaul any landlubbers!" I am most concerned by the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

"Yo ho ho, shiver me timbers!" Dry rot has rendered the wooden frame of this building unsafe.

1. Decent sound effects, both music and spot noises add a lot to the style.
2. The levels are large and packed with loads of different baddies and obstacles.
3. Lots of gameplay styles combine to make Hook varied and interesting to play.
4. Plenty of great witty and unexpected touches such as the banana skins, basketball and sideways bouncing walls.
5. The game sticks with the film's plot pretty well. This is helped by loads of extra screens and other bonuses.

1. Tons of boring loading.
2. It's not as tough as it should be.
3. Main sprite looks a bit pasty.