You know this kind of game already - move through the levels collecting stars for points, firing other stars at an assortment of baddies that come towards you, jumping over gaps and fighting end-of-level bosses.
That's almost all there is to it. The only other bits are in the box-out elsewhere on this page (I can't direct you to the box-out because Linda, the art ed, gets to say where it goes and not me). And it's quite fun to play as well. It's not amazing and it's not got anything that hasn't been seen before, but it's fun nonetheless.
What's your motivation in all this? To break a dark spell that's been cast on the House of Fun by an evil clown. Stupid isn't it? Adrian Cummings is the man behind the conception, graphics, sound and coding, as well as the packaging design and artwork which probably means he was involved in that stupid plot idea. I'm not having a pop Adrian. I know people expect some kind of reason to be playing a game, but this one's just so 'oh I can't be bothered with it, let's get on to something else'.
A LITTLE OIL CAN
Maybe we should chat about what other features are in the game? Like how you shoot stars to kill the baddies and how you can collect power-ups that make your stars bigger and porkier?
Maybe we should chat about the fact that if Tin Toy doesn't kill a baddie in time and they run into him he loses some energy - which is cleverly displayed as an oil gauge (actually it's not that clever really, is it?) - and Tin Toy can replenish lost energy by collecting the little oil cans that can be found lying around. In the air sometimes. But hey! This is fantasy, right? Anything goes here.
What now? Andrea's going to insist I write more words to fill up the space between the pictures. But why? You've played a hundred games like this in the past, you've got an idea whether it's any good by looking at the score and the overall verdict, you've had a good look at the screenshots so you basically know all there is to know about to make an informed buying decision.
I bet you didn't know Laura P Paul did the playtesting though. You would have found out if you'd bought the game because it says so on the packaging.
A BIG ISSUE
It comes on two disks, but you have to use DF0 when you need to swap - which is only once - between disk 1 and disk 2. See? Now we're getting into the realms of too much information. I mean, you'd expect it on a couple of disks, wouldn't you? It's only when games come on 12 or 14 disks that the number becomes a really big issue.
And another thing, just to make sure you don't miss it - this game is only available via mail order. That means you have to send some money off in the post and then receive the game back through the post. You can't just walk into your nearest Electronics Boutique or whatever and expect it to be on the shelf. It won't be. See?