Most of the time all you'll ever have to do is walk from left to right along the scrolling levels, hitting swarms of freakish enemies with your pipe and jumping on moving platforms. Yoshi's Story, arguably a superior game, was the last title to follow this ancient gaming tradition, and despite its loveable cuteness, was widely criticised for its lack of invention. Things have moved on since then, but Goemon 2 still has both feet planted firmly in the past.

From time to time the influence of Mystical Ninja is apparent, in the lavish backgrounds which twist and fold to offer the occasional glimpse of forthcoming areas, and particularly in the end-of-level town sequences, the only places where you get full 3D control over the characters. Sadly these sequences are only ever used as cheap plot devices. They don't require much interaction other than simply walking through into a room and pressing a button to talk to whatever strange creature you find in there.

That's not to say Goemon 2 isn't playable. It is, because it's basically a tarted up version of a pretty decent old SNES game. The handling feels nice and weighty, which is something of an essential feature of any good platformer. With two players on screen together, watching the characters swing around branches, squirm through narrow gaps, and link-up to deliver big combo attacks can be a hoot.

It's just that visual humour and well-programmed physics can't make up for a basic lack of spark in the way the levels are designed. If you're going to go back to the past on a machine where 3D worlds come as standard, you need a game which can improve on the originals of yesteryear. Yoshi's Story just about pulled it off, but Goemon 2 is left looking a little tired in comparison.