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I can't "bear" it. Yogi's pal Boo-Boo has been bear-napped by a mean hunter (Is there any other kind?) and only Yogi can save him from a fate worse than chicken McNuggets. Now we all know Yogi bear isn't the world's greatest cartoon character. By my reckoning, he comes a long way behind Bugs Bunny, Fred Flintstone and Road Runner to name but a few. But this Piranha game version of the smarter than your average bear is actually better than the real thing.

Yogi must rescue the bearnapped Boo-Boo from the cage in which he has been imprisoned. The game begins with the hunter whisking helpless Boo-Boo across the screen and away into the depths of Jellystone Park, where he paces up and down awaiting his fate - to be sold to a circus. In case you needed reminding the Boo-Boo-ometer at the bottom of the screen shows him in the cage together with the number of screens remaining before you reach him.

With no time to waste, Yogi appears screen left and this is where you take over. Throughout the game you travel from left to right as the terrain scrolls by. To begin with, it's easy going. The only things Yogi has to avoid are holes in the ground and the odd frog.

Throughout the game there are three kinds of hazard. Those like the holes and rivers - which mean loss of one of your five lives, and less harmful obstacles like the odd geyser and the frogs which cause Yogi to tumble head-over-heels (in true cartoon style his hat stays airborne and lands back on his head) and lose some of his energy. Lastly, there are deadly human hazards. Among these are Ranger Smith who chases Yogi for the hell of it, irate campers annoyed at having lunch and yet more hunters.

If you can't shake them off Yogi can resort to disguising himself as a bush (much smarter than your average bear) but again, this uses up energy. Yogi's remaining energy is measured by a meter in the bottom left of the screen. A Yogi icon slowly sinks down, eventually with a huge exclamation mark above it as he gets weaker and weaker.

Thankfully, bear energy can be replenished by grabbing the picnic hampers left lying around by the careless campers and stealing fish from the end of the anglers' lines. You'll need to do a lot of food grabbing because there are a lot of energy-sapping nasties around including a moose, bees and what looks like a giant seagull. Far more lethal though are the snakes - one touch from them and you're a dead bear.

The object of the game is twofold. A calendar in the bottom right of the screen shows the days ticking by from the January date when Boo-Boo was bearnapped. For beginners and the inept it's enough just to survive as long as you can and there is a high score table on which you can register your achievement. The more ambitious can try to rescue Boo-Boo is as short a time as possible.

To get to Boo-Boo quickly you will need to take advantage of the caves. These operate in a snakes and ladders fashion. If you enter a cave you might come out many screens in advance of your original position. On the other hand, you might end up a long way back. You just have to take your chances, but it's worth making a note of the Boo-Boo-ometer reading when you find a really good cave short-cut.

The game isn't over when you reach the cave. Yogi must hop on some strange-shaped stepping stones in the right sequence before he can get the key from the camper's cabin. If he does it in the wrong order the alarm goes off and it's goodbye to another life. Again, there's help at hand. Boo-Boo has left a trail of toffee apples with clues stuck to them. But they're not that easy to get at, and if you use the caves you'll miss out on some, which means it's guessing time.

The graphics and animation are brilliant throughout and very like the cartoon. The scrolling super-smooth - the mountains in the distance scroll more slowly than the foreground scenery giving the true 3D effect and the music is pretty good as well. In all, Yogi Bear is an excellent cartoon conversion.