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The World's most unlikely superstar is here. He's squat, he's smelly and he hoovers up ants. So we asked him to play Nobby the Aardvark to see what he thought of it. And so it's over to James Leach...

That Trenton's got an evil sense of humour. Fancy comparing me to an aardvark. I'm nothing like an aardvark. If I'm like any animal I'd compare myself to something like a lion [You mean you sleep 23 hours a day? Yes, I can go along with that! - Ed]. Anyway, Nobby The Aardvark is a large platform game on the whole. It's a lot more than that, though. It also includes a puzzle game, an underwater dodging game and a sort of 'whizz-along-in-a-trolley' game.

The plot, for those who are dying to know, is very silly. Well, what would you expect of a game called Nobby the Aardvark? But what seems to have happened is this: Nobby was noshing a few ants, when one, pleading for its worthless little life, blabbed to him about a mythical place called Antopia. [NB: Let me just warn you that at this point that things get even sillier. Turn over the page now if you don't think you can handle it - Ed]

Nobby, sensing a place packed with billions of scrummy ants of every conceivable flavour, decides to build himself a 'matter transporter' to get himself there. (Well, wouldn't this be the first means of transport to cross your mind?) This, as I seem to say in every review, is where you come in. You've got to guide Nobby through the seven levels in order to connect various bits of his matter transporter. There's the thermo-nuclear flange coupling, the twin-phase particle accelerator, a crypto-bionic plasma decelerator and four HP7 batteries.

Level one has you in what Thalamus claim is America in 1951. What it looks like is a sort of prehistoric land with huge ants, fountains, massive birds and other creatures wandering around. It's nifty, it's colourful and it's a lot of fun to explore. There are loads of platforms to negotiate, heaps of baddies to kill or avoid and even the odd ant-hill to suck dry.

If you beat level one, you get to ride in a balloon. If you remember the playable demo on the cover of CF23, well this is it (only a heck of a lot bigger). You steer the little fellow around the skies, trying to get some missiles. Grab them, then head off on an exploration. It's a fun section and contrasts nicely with the first level.

That's one of the best things about Nobby. Each level is different both in looks and playing style to the others. Level three, for example, has Nobby swimming in a frighteningly deep ocean. He must avoid all manner of piscean interference, whilst trying to find a sub and hoping to stop his air running out. It's almost like a different game.

Level four, and Nobby is in a little one-aardvark sub. He's off to explore Atlantis. On the way, he must chug past the Titanic, which is rather chucklesome. When he gets to Atlantis, Nobby discards the sub and continues on foot. Everywhere he goes, he's greeted by totally different graphics, so although he's platforming on foot again, it doesn't feel at all like the first level.

For some reason level five is set on a space station, possibly on Mars. Nobby is dressed correctly for this environment, with an oxygen-filled glass bowl for his head. Once again, the graphics have changed completely so he has to be prepared to meet (and kill) the weirdest assortment of aliens.

Level six is set in the deep vastness of space, where nobody can eat ice cream. It's a puzzle section done like a maze, and you must rush around a load of squares, collecting bonus points. Again, you see, nothing like the other levels.

Level seven (the last one) has Nobby in a trolley rolling along the deserted tracks of an ore mine. He has to avoid all manner of nasties, kill anything he can't avoid and generally keep on the rails as he trundles towards the final bit of his matter transporter.

All the levels are brilliant. Each one is big enough to be a challenge on its own, and two would make an excellent, quality budget game. Here you've got seven to contend with.

The graphics and the playability are both struggling to be the best thing about Nobby The Aardvark. There are some luscious screens and the animation of all the creatures is superb to say the least.

Once again, we're talking about serious cartoon-style quality. But that ol' playability is still there, giving you serious inner grief when you die and making sure there's that 'just-one-more-go' feeling.

So what I want to know is, why aren't there more games like this? Okay, so it's frustrating to the point of driving you round several dozen rather nasty hairpin bends, but it looks so good and plays so nicely, you can't hold this against it. Yes, without doubt Nobby is excellent. Er, polished is a good word for it too.

So the upshot is, buy it. You're guaranteed of a massive seven-leveller and the graphics are great. Nobby is seriously cute, and so are his chums (well, enemies, actually). There's only one cloud on the horizon; it's a multi-load. But bearing in mind the quality of the game in general, it's a pretty small pink flufy cloud, and easy to live with.

1. Fairly sizeable multi-load.

1. Completely brilliant cartoony graphics. The sort of thing C64 owners deserve.
2. Incredibly playable. The collision detection and controllability are flawless.
3. There is tons of variety. Each level has its own unique feel and style of play.
4. And they're all of an exceptionally high quality.
5. The sound is cheerful, cartoony and, dare I say it, atmospheric?
6. Yes I dare say it. Atmospheric. There.
7. Loads of baddies, loads of action and even a bit of puzzling too.