Livingstone

The jungle is an environment ripe for keypad-based adventuring. With an amazingly diverse and furiously active ecosystem there's no real need to make up tenuous excuses for the inclusion of obstacles and nasties. Need a way to create a route from one platform to the next without invoking Willy the wizard and his fantastic patented floating monkey bars? The jungle makes it easy; just sling a vine between them. Whatever you require, the jungle's lush canopy will supply.

Livingstone follows in the long-swinging tradition of the jungle platform adventure, casting you as young Indiana Jones type Henry Morton Stanley, running and jumping your way through various levels collecting gems as you search for Dr Livingstone.

You can really cast aside the story, as for the most part it has no real bearing on the game. Your time is spent working through a linear progression of levels, displayed on a map screen that is suitably, well, map-like.

Apart from the odd themed level, where you might be being chased by a boulder, for example, each level is very much about getting from point A to C via Point B. Point B will generally include a number of classic platforming clichés, whether it's a series of raised islets surrounded by instant-death water, a row of duck-inducing tunnels patrolled by spiders or a bevvy of ancient stone gargoyles that you can swing between.

While level design is competent, it's matched with such an unrelenting sense of déjà vu that Livingstone tastes distinctly of the vanilla plant. Thankfully, this is offset somewhat by the reasonably charming visuals. This may not come across as all that flattering, but the character models look like they've been drawn by a young art student keen on one day living the high life of a professional animator. There's something not quite right about them, but they ooze a well-meaning exuberance that more than makes up for their slightly quirky look.

Although some levels have tricky moments that will likely require a few re-tries, clean run-throughs will generally only take a minute or two, even for younger gamers who this might be aimed at. There are the collectible gems to push you into perfecting levels, but without any secret rocket pack to unlock once they're all gathered, your motivation is likely to stick around 'ho hum' territory, leaping to the odd gem when it's within a vine's reach rather than scrabbling to the game's (disappointingly obvious) 'secret' areas.

There's nothing particularly wrong with Livingstone as such – its controls work just fine and everything ambles along in a pleasantly aimless way – but we have to ask quite what Livingstone is doing here. A few years ago it could possibly have braved the jungle of the platform genre on its own merits. However, now that it's as populated as a capital city, positively generic experiences don't quite cut it.