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James thought that Turbo the Tortoise was an instruction and ran over Cathy's 50 year-old family pet in his Alfa Romeo. Trenton will have no truck with such cruelty and wastes a few sprites in Hi-Tec's new platform-stunner instead.

Terrapins are not famous for their pace. In all history there's only been one occasion where a tortoise's foot speed has won the day - and then the Hare probably took a dive! Hi-TEC aim to change all that with their new, improved, lean-burn, super-charged, fuel-injected, 16-valve, twin-spark, Turbo The Tortoise.

Turbo The Tortoise is a platform romp with class - that's obvious from the word go. Everything, but everything, has been packed on to these few metres of tape. Hidden platforms, secret bonus levels and end-of-level guardians all gang up to give the young terrapin a tough time.

Turbo was a mistake, a terrible accident of science gone slightly mad. Now the once sluggish garden pet has been turned into an all-singing, all-dancing, moving-a-darned-sight-faster world-saving superhero type. And now, as the helper of the same mad doctor who mutated him, he has to find six ancient artefacts. That means six levels of death, mayhem and other associated chaos await our hero in a tortoise shell.

The mad doctor, it seems, not only has a well-whizzy tortoise but a time machine too, and it's this that Turbo uses to visit the six themed historical worlds. The themes don't really matter, but they sure look nice, providing neat cartoon backdrops and fancy parallax scrolling to accompany the on-screen action.

And it's the on-screen action that really puts Turbo to the top of the tree! Getting around is simple; just run and jump your way in and out of trouble. Collectable bonus objects litter the route, as do enemies that strip power with a hit, while deadly pits have to be jumped and crumbling floors avoided. The primary aim is to get to the other end of the screen, beat the big bad guy and collect the artefact; but the temptation of extra points, extra powers and massive bonus scores soon leads you astray.

Turboland is packed with neat bolt-on extras for the souped-up shelled one. First off, and most importantly, there are the bullets. Normally Turbo can only top enemies by leaping on their heads, but when he collects the three blue marble tokens the Big T can start shooting. Extra lives and bonus fruit are positively falling out of the scenery, and collecting them without loss of life is the art of Turbo. You have to learn fast and think logically if you are to avoid destruction and rack up them there points. Hidden lifts and moving blocks cram the airways, and the only way to find them is a leap of faith.

Blocks aren't the only thing to be hidden away in Turboland, as each level has a concealed bonus section. They're not that hard to find, but they do force you to waste a few lives hunting them down. When you do locate them, there are points galore and some much-needed extra power to be bagged.

Examined separately these aspects don't sound that impressive, but when they're bundled together, running side-by-side, one factor against another, Turb really starts to kick out. There's loads to do, tricks to learn and your own neck to protect. Gradually, you learn the layout of each level and you can then really start to milk the points for a perfect performance bonus.

The difficulty levels increase slowly but steadily, in true Tortoise fashion. The stakes are raised with more aggressive baddies and tougher layouts. Blocks have to be carried and dropped so Torty can travel over pits and get a leg up. Turbo really gets you into yanking mode, as the 'stick gets pulled hard to squeeze those few extra pixels' distance from jumps.

Once you've played the early levels a few times, they become easy to survive totally intact, and so larger points hauls become the focus. The causal grace with which you eventually romp through levels one and two gives you ever more reason to finish the game - these bit, that once seemed tough, are now sooo easy!

Turbo puts the hooks by getting tougher at the same speed as your skill at scooting the young terrapin around increases. There's always a nastier arrangement of enemies around the next screen or a more cunningly-hidden block to catch you unawares, but you feel more ready than ever to take them on. This suckers you in, tempting you with slightly more success than the last game, then it stiffs you good and proper. And, as there's only one continue on offer, you're never allowed to romp too far, too soon.

The only problem is that it's slightly easy. It ain't in the falling-off-a-log category of simplicity, but you'll soon find yourself on level four, with five lives, full health and all your own teeth. Finishing the last two levels is more tricky, but everything's so well executed you have to stick with it right to the end, which, because of the dedication Turbo The Tortoise demands, seems to come depressingly soon!

1. It's all over too soon.
2. The early stages are very easy!

1. Lovely tinkly spot effects and catchy intro tune.
2. Six levels packed with every trick in the book!
3. Hidden blocks tempt you into danger - and points.
4. Neat pace that gets tough at just the right time.
5. Each end-of-level guardian has different strengths.
6. Parallax scrolling makes the levels look good.
7. Real class for a budgie.
8. Precise control and crisp collision detection.
9. Good variety of tricks, traps and other torments.