For those of you who don't have a child who is permanently glued to the cartoon networks, you would be surprised that there is a cult following around these diminutive girls. A cursory glance almost gave me the creeps because they have huge eyes, large heads and tiny bodies but after a quick jaunt to find out what Powerpuff Girls was all about, I was thoroughly charmed.

With that research done, I approached the game in a fairly upbeat manner. Powerpuff Girls were about the whole late 1990s or new millennium 'grrl' power movement and so, naturally, I thought I was in for some groundbreaking gameplay. Sadly, Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go is hardly what you would call empowering. True, you get to control the trio of Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles as they go through Townsville to save the hapless innocent denizens from the diabolical machinations of Mojo Jojo; who always reminded me rather of a Bender (from Futurama) gone mad. But suffice to say, while the context is enlightening, such that the girls are the heroines rather than damsels in distress, the overall sophistication of the form itself is not so interesting. Because the Powerpuff Girls fly through Townsville, you get the sense that ultimately this is a glorified 2D shooter.

There are seven levels throughout and all of the artwork owes much to the cartoon series, including the vividly depicted cutscenes. Unfortunately, the levels themselves come off as rather dull, culminating in the usual 'boss' battles. Mind you, I don't think that is particularly bad and it's definitely not as insanely difficult as say Giga Wing 2 was for the Dreamcast. Yet my conjecture is, most of the potential buyers of this title are going to be little children and dare I say, maybe even little girls. So it becomes disconcerting when the gameplay is so horribly difficult for those who aren't well endowed into the shooter mode. On the other hand, if you sunk hundreds of dollars into your local Raiden II arcade machine, you'll find the actual story to be quite short. Perhaps the developers believe that their target audience are now all genetically engineered like the Powerpuff Girls and have lightning fast reflexes.

The seven levels are dotted with secrets that can be discovered. You'll also be empowered with power-ups to augment your superhuman strength and laser-beam eyes. There is a whole theme of co-operation starting with the fact that you control either Blossom, Buttercup or Bubbles with the other two characters tagging along. As the trio always travels together, Chemical X, for example, lets you conduct 'Super Attacks'. It's an interesting theme and perhaps fitting for the audience to promote friendly co-operation. The multiplayer option also exudes this and naturally, only three players will be playing (which is a tad strange considering the nominal is four but I'm guessing nobody wants to play the bad guy, Mojo Jojo). The animation progresses smoothly with plenty of background activity to liven up the environments.

Ultimately, Powerpuff Girls managed to impress me with the relative depth and sophistication of their franchise. The form it was allowed to play out though was a large disparity from the actual content. Female heroines became stuck in a solidly status quo 2D side shooter setting like an abstract game version of the film Pleasantville with the titular characters in angst, trying to break out. Moreover, the shortened gameplay and difficulty really puzzled me as who the ultimate audience would be because certainly, some of the cartoon's younger audience will have to struggle somewhat with the game's relatively short length. Still, if the attention to the audio-visuals is a taste of future Powerpuff titles, I am looking forward to a new Powerpuff Girls game; perhaps one that is as complex as its theme.