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No sniggering at the back! Bush Rescue is a GTA-tyle kiddies' romp starring the entire catalogue of Australian animals. And despite the dubious name, you won't see a beaver anywhere.

On initial contact with Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue, you'll roll your eyes and mutter something about 'bloody platform games', or 'generic ballsy rodent game character rip-off sequel'. Both would be correct - this is a platform game with another not-quite-as-cool-as-it-thinks-it-is leading character, and there are gems to scramble around collecting, but it's the GTA-style mission structures that give some breadth to the otherwise paint-by-numbers gaming, just as it did the original.

You'll be bombing around on the back of a Yute, diving through billabongs and interacting with all manner of Aussie inhabitants, just like in the first Ty title, but this time the action has been cranked up a notch. Ty can now leap into the cockpit of giant clunking mechs or behind the turret of a mounted mortar gun in an attempt to broaden the scope of gameplay. And although it does so, the whole thing still feels as though you've played it in its entirety before.

The sub-missions which see you walloping stray crocs in the sewers or testing out battle arenas for your mad professor friend are fine distractions, but nothing other than distractions. They're certainly not awe-inspiring slices of innovation.

Where Ty 2 does push back the borders of banality, it does so with small touches and incidental things. Many levels are filled with beautiful blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments such as the Koala RAC going about their business hauling a car to safety after plunging from a bridge, or old inhabitants of towns stopping for a chat with their friends. It may not actually add anything to the game, but its endearing nonetheless.

Ty's rack of boomerangs is back and fired up too, ranging from the standard 'rang' to the kaboomarang (guess what that does), the infrarang, x-rang, and the megarang. Each has its own attribute, be it the ability to destroy metal crates or, in the case of the x-rang, be able to spot bad guys in disguise who'd seek to sabotage your do-gooding.

Despite these blips of interest, despite the cute animals going about their business and the cute things you're asked to do with your 'rang (we could think of a few), Ty 2 remains flat. It feels as though it's been designed by people who market rubberised cheese in the shape of string under the pretext that's it's somehow cool. A Tasmanian Tiger needs more than just a 14-year-old's haircut and 'tude to make him a platforming icon. Look at Crash - he never utters a word, yet is infinitely cooler.

But what's the point in splitting hairs over which marsupial has more cred? Ty 2, for all the effort (and don't get us wrong, a lot of effort has been applied), retreads such a familiar path, and feels so utterly vacuous, you might just as well look at the box and consider the game completed. A solid attempt, but nowhere near as inventive as it needed to be.

1. Cute incidental moments add some character to the game. If you can keep your eyes open, you might even find yourself smiling.
2. It's far too generic to appeal to hardcore platform fans as you'll feel like you've played everything in it a hundred times before.
3. The boomerang upgrades are worth hunting down and buying - they'll open the game further and allow deeper exploration.
4. It suffers from the delucion that it's in some way cool, when in fact it will only really appeal to very young gamers.
5. The new mech driving sections are a natty touch, and add a harder wallop to an otherwise uninteresting game.

Younger platform gamers will love it, especially if they've not yet played better. Pass if you're over twelve though.