CJ in the USA logo

Codemasters * £7.99

CJ is an elephant with a cute face and a very small body. Realising that these attributes make him perfect for intercontinental travelling, he decides to visit the United States. But no sooner has he arrived than people try to kill him.

So CJ is thrown into a world of platforms, bun-throwing and food-collecting through three large and taxing levels. Ultimately, he's trying to rescue his family from an evil hunter, but don't waste your intelligence on this nonsense. Just view CJ in the USA as a colourful, fun platform game with added bits.

The game is cute, nicely drawn and fun for those who like cute, drawn things.



CJ in the USA logo

Oh dear. The first CJ game (CJ's Elephant Antics, reviewed way back in issue one with a respectable 63%) was quite a fun little platform runaround in a simplistic kind of way, so the Codies, in their tried-and-tested style, have brought us a sequel. At first sign you'd be forgiven for thinking it was in fact the very same game, but sadly on further examination it proves to he nothing that good.

The joystick response in CJ In The USA seems to have been seriously muddled up since the first game, and combined with the, er, enthusiastic collision detection, the first impression you get is of a game that's seriously annoying to play.

As you struggle further on through the featureless landscapes it continues to be seriously annoying, never more than when, in the first level, you fall into a little pit containing one of the little baby elephants you're trying to rescue, only to find that there's then no way back out and no way to get yourself killed either.

One reset of the Amiga later, I really had to force myself to play again, and when I did I simply found more of the same - fiddly, finicky platform design, crap control to try to negotiate it with, and nothing worth seeing when you do. I quite like the first CJ game, but this is complete trash.