Toonenstein

Release Date: November 2, 1999

"It’s great eye candy without any semblance of content"

Should parents need a good reason to get their offspring out for a bit of fresh air, all they need do is cram Toonenstein into the house PlayStation. While Terra Glyph’s game can be forgiven some of its limitations - after all, it’s targeted at the youngest gamers - it can’t be forgiven for insulting the intelligence of four to five-year-olds with virtually non-existent gameplay.

Based on the Tiny Toons cartoon series in which young relatives of Bugs Bunny and co get into ‘hilarious’ scrapes. Toonenstein follows Hampton The Pig and Plucky Duck as they enter a foreboding castle in search of riches. Needless to say, the evil Baroness Toonenstein has evil intentions regarding the pair, and an exit plan forms the bulk of what action there is.

Bizarrely. though. Toonenstein then throws in an additional character - Furball. the Baroness’ cat - who assumes the starring role and reduces the pig and duck to bit-part actors who trot about on screen, occasionally treating us to tedious comedic outbursts.

To facilitate his own escape and that of the hapless duo. Furball must find electrical generators within the games 36-screen setting, using them to power a lift to the exit. To this end. a series of icons appear at the bottom of the screen, presenting you with movement options or indicating that something will happen if the © button is pressed. And that’s it.

You wander around then sit back to watch the animations you’ve uncovered.

It’s far from involving and never satisfying.

Granted, the graphics are excellent, while the animation and voice-overs are indistinguishable from the Warner Bros cartoon. But if the price for this is stuff-all gameplay, then its too high. Things are spiced up when Furball is attacked by flying bombs and the game switches all-too briefly to a first-person shooter. But these are brief hopeful asides compared to the tedious main task, and little compensation for the lengthy loading time you have to endure.

As games based on cartoons go. Toonenstein is very close to its subject matter - but only in the sense that its great eye candy without any semblance of content. The lack of any real gameplay is unforgivable, as is the fact that the mission can be solved in less than an hour simply by visiting every room and pressing every button. Should only be used as punishment.