THERE was one PlayStation game I didn't really, really want - but I got it.

I've put this off for quite a while (a few weeks anyway) but a games reviewer has to do what a games reviewer has to do.

Not that Spice World is a game. It is, we are told, an "interactive experience" and a pretty boring one at that. With timing that could not have been much worse, Sony Computer Entertainment finally released the much hyped Spice World just weeks after the red-headed, big chested member of the group walked out.

Yep, the timing was bad and so is the 'game'.

It features video footage of the Girl Power line-up being interviewed about acting, concerts and the most stupid questions asked by interviewers. For example, the one who is engaged to a Man United footballer recalls one journalist asking: "If you were a biscuit, what kind of biscuit would you be?" She doesn't give us the answer (and I'm dying to know) but I can see her as possibly a custard cream or maybe a jam tart. Hmmm.

And the red-headed, big chested one tells us that a moment she will never forget was when she discovered she had been born on Mars. No, that's not true, I made that bit up.

What she did claim was an unforgettable moment (honest) was when she pinched the royal bum of Prince Charles. Cheeky thing.

I must admit to paying a bit more attention to footage of the girls performing in concert but that was about the extent of my interest in Spice World.

You can, apparently, create dance routines to their hits using the girls' cartoon characters, mix tracks of their various hits and other things. I decided not to bother trying.

However, give Spice World to a young (extremely young) Spice Girl, PlayStation-owning fan and no doubt they will absolutely love it. Perhaps it's just me, past my sell-by-date and all that, but I don't really, really think so. JE

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.