MoHo

When three former Bullfrog employees broke away to set up Lost Toys, much was expected of the newly-formed developer's debut title. What people didn't expect was a cod-futuristic affair combining elements of Robot Wars, Marble Madness and American Gladiators.

A mixed bag admittedly, and not one that sits easily among the myriad of quality titles available for the PC. Faced with a raft of cinematic epics, engrossing strategic challenges, and even goblin-ridden quests, a game that involves controlling a synthetic being that has been replaced from the waist down by an oversized ball bearing is going to be top of very few shopping lists. That's the crux of MoHo though, and game modes include races, king of the hill, last man rolling, running the gauntlet and powerball, whereby the titular sphere is launched at a pole in order to score points.

Success at each event is largely based on using forward momentum to your advantage, and randomly pressing buttons to instigate a combination move, thus dispatching your opponents in a beat-'em-up fashion. Further challenges become available as progress is made, although they all essentially revolve around the same basic gameplay elements. AfoWocertainly isn't unplayable, but there are so many more interesting things you could be doing, and the novelty is all too brief. In its favour, it does look reasonable but, these days, that's the equivalent of commending a television programme because it's in colour. The game is only $20, but it's still difficult to see how Lost Toys thought anyone would be remotely interested in this type of thing.