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When the world's most famous under-achiever sees space mutants landing in Springfield, he's the only one able to foil their diabolical plans. But can Bart's computer capers be as cool as they are in the cartoon?

What can you say about Bart Simpson? Pop star, skateboarder, cultural icon, spokesdude for a generation and a legend in his own playtime. All this and yet half the population have never even seen his weekly showing on Sky! He may cool in the good cartoon world of Springfield, but does he shape up in C64s-ville?

We've all seen games based on film or TV characters and most of them range from decidedly dodgy to definite doggy-doo - not so with Bart. Our man himself is a gorgeously colourful character (actually he's four high-res multiplexed sprites put together). He moves well, jumps, skates, sprays and has bags of character, Bart's moves are fluid - if he's running fast, it takes time to slow down, stop and change direction. The length of his jumps can be controlled although it takes some getting used to. Quite simply the Bart Man looks as cool on the C64 is he does on film.

But this is not just Bart's everyday clowning around for the cartoon fan - this is Action Bart: the dude with a mission. Space Mutants have landed [At last! - Dep. Ed] and Bart, with his x-ray specs, is the only person in Springfield who can see them. Not only have they possessed innocent citizens on each level, there are objects that the aliens want to use in their machine to conquer Earth (don't ask me how or why). Bart's mission (should be choose to accept it) is to spot and destroy all the aliens. To do this, he selects his X-Ray Specs which show the world in a different light, so when Bart looks at a person controlled by an alien, the victim's head is covered in waving tentacles! He can then destroy them by bouncing on their heads. In addition, every time that Bart dispatches an alien, he gets a 'proof'. At the end of each level, if he's collected enough proof, one of his family will come to his aid against the end-of-level bad guy. Bart's main task is to collect and destroy all the things the aliens need to fuel their world domination. On the first level, Bart takes his trusty spraycan to anything purple. Hindering him in this task are lots and lots of different slimy alien things and loads of tricks and traps.

But Bart's ill-equipped for the task - he has a pocketful of coins and the shops are filled with useful goodies such as cherry bombs, rockets, whistles, magnets, keys and wrenches. Most of these are used to help Bart spray things he can't otherwise reach - a well-armed rocket (of the firework variety) will hit a purple flower pot resting on a high window ledge.

The higher levels really are a challenge and it's one of the toughest games we've seen for months. In level two, the mutants go on a hat hunt. They now need hats to fuel their world-destroying machine, so Bart has to run through the Springfield shopping mail (that's a shopping centre in English), collecting hats from passers-by to supplement the ones he finds just lying around. Every now and again, he runs into bad guys carrying painful-looking missiles.

Level three takes Bart into the Springfield fairground where he had to collect green balloons, although there's also the opportunity to win extra coins on the sideshows. Once Bart has collected all the balloons, the aliens turn their attention to exit signs (?) which Bart has to collect from the Springfield museum, dodging laser beams (??) and lava flows (???). But if you think that's odd, wait for the last level - five - where Bart has to run around the Springfield fast-breeder nuclear reactor, collecting all the fuel rods and putting them safely back in the basement.

The first couple of levels are quite easy, but if you try, there's an awful lot of playing time in this game. Even after you've finished it (and even the programmers can't do it without cheating!) there are loads of cheats, special effects and secret rooms to discover.

Isn't there anything wrong with Bart Simpson Versus The Space Mutants? Well, after level two, as I've said it gets very, very hard - probably too hard for Bart's younger fans. There's no music in the game, just sound effects. But after you've listened to the pretty fab intro while the game's loading, you won't want to listen to it in the game (it really gets on your nerves)...

The graphics on the whole are excellent but some of the backgrounds (such as level 2) are minimal. Oh, and it's sometimes a bit difficult to work out what is a platform and what isn't. You might not like that.

But there are pretty insignificant compared to the colour, speed, gameplay, sexy sprites and, er, very strange sense of humour. Hats off to Ocean.

It's a brilliant game and it's not easy to make a good game from a character licence and no plot (as Ocean themselves - and some of you - know all too well). But Bart Simpson makes his debut with the cool you'd expect from a stylish under-achiever.

And what would master Simpson himself say about it? "Buy the game, man... We couldn't agree more. And we'd like to see Bart on the C64 again soon.

1. Later levels are very, very tough.

1. Bright graphics with excellent high-resolution, colourful multiplexed sprites.
2. Super-smooth scrolling with really responsive control of the main character.
3. Our hero has bags of character (like the 'real' Bart) without being too cute.
4. Lovely tinkly spot effects and catchy intro tune.
5. Great sense of humour.
6. Has an extremely addictive, almost maddening hook.
7. Very, very close to the original console game - including all the original cheats, skips and hidden zones.
8. Platforms with a difference.