Hot Wheels Jetz (THQ PC G8)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * *)

The secret life of toys, or what goes on behind the wardrobe door when mum is not around, is a favourite ploy of books and movies aimed at children.

Look at the Narnia Chronicles, The Indian in the Cupboard, Jumanji, Toy Story and many others.

In Hot Wheels Jetz toy planes, tanks, rockets and soldiers come to life and fight out their own version of Desert Storm in the living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms of ordinary homes.

Urban warfare if you like, but a highly sanitised version in keeping with a game aimed at pre-teens. Hot Wheels is a Mattel trademark and is a spinoff of real toys.

But the virtual ones as depicted in Hot Wheels are probably better known to today's youngsters than their plastic and aluminium counterparts.

Jetz follows on from other Hot Wheels games such as Burnin Rubber, Extreme Racing and Mechanix. These Hot Wheels are more Hot Wings, and the game puts you in charge of lethal toys, which you fly around the house destroying enemy targets.

Why they are there doesn't really become clear and there is no plot as such. Simply fly and shoot, and navigate through the bonus rings to earn health power-ups, extra missiles or unlock new planes.

Points are gained for destroying targets highlighted with blue circles, but you lose points for destroying articles such as TV sets or lamps in Jetz' version of friendly fire.

The graphics won't stretch modern machines, and a Pentium 2 300 with just 32mb of ram will run it. Like most flying games, it is best played with a joystick. Jetz is a simple game, in keeping with a target audience of under-10. Anyone older will probably want more sophisticated games.

* Email Peter Eley