Mobile Games Roundup

The Heist

• iPhone: £1.99.

A block-sliding puzzle compilation might not instantly strike you as something to prompt spontaneous nakedness and premature downloading. I know the mobile scene can be exciting sometimes, but steady on, soldier.

As the latest entry in our now-bulging 'Appearances Can Be Deceptive' file, The Heist teases four distinct challenges from some yarn about breaking locks on a bank vault. We might look like idiots sometimes, but we're still aware that we're basically playing various block-sliding puzzles and taking pretend phone calls.

But that's OK. We can get behind some daft role-playing in the name of fun times. And what fun times they are, as you shift wooden blocks around to free unfairly imprisoned electric valves.

Elsewhere, you're tasked with laying down coloured symbols methodically, so that no two appear on the same row, while another set has you sliding blocks around to connect wires, Pipemania-style.

To continue the block party, the fourth game type channels the spirit of Sokoban as you try to push green crates to their destination without blocking off their loved ones in the process.

In isolation, all would be entertaining if rather sterile. But in the context of the heist and the pretend phone-calls from the lovely Sophia, The Heist proves greater than the sum of its parts. And there's the prospect of a real prize dangled in front of you if you can make it through all 60 levels...

7/10

Flick Soccer

• iPhone £0.69.

Now that the constantly happening football is back to distract us from the mundanity of modern life, what better than to spend our remaining spare time delivering imaginary free kicks with our index fingers?

Except, of course, we've been here before. Several times in fact, with Flick Kick Football, Flick Football, and even Full Fat's own (rather expensive) Dead Ball Specialist giving us hours of ball-bending fun. But if an idea's good enough, you may as well keep on reviving it until we get bored.

In common with Full Fat's excellent Flick Golf title, a decent portion of Flick Soccer's charm comes from the addition of insane post-shot after touch, and it works just as well here.

It also brings plenty of modes to the party, comprising Quickshot, Endurance, Challenge, Crossbar and Smash it. Of the five, Challenge Mode tweaks your OCD gland most feverishly.

The idea isn't simply to beat the keeper in a sequence of dead-ball scenarios but to hit the designated target with laser-guided precision. The closer to the bullseye, the more you score, and various medal tiers keep you coming back for more long after you've qualified for the next skill level.

Elsewhere, Crossbar mode tests your ability to deliberately smack the woodwork while multiplier and extra time icons drift gently past, and Smash It tasks you with breaking panes of glass against the clock, Virtua Tennis style.

Endurance and Quickshot modes most closely resemble what you'll have played before, with both opting for the simple score-as-much-as-you-can formula, but the latter set against the clock and the former adopting the lives-based system.

Both are still as benignly addictive as you'd expect, but you'd be forgiven for feeling burned out from overexposure to rival incarnations. GameCenter leaderboards add that necessary element of competition, but it's a shame that this is as far as multiplayer competition extends.

If you haven't already given yourself carpal tunnel syndrome playing these games, then Flick Soccer is a great place to start. It's hardly a masterclass in reinvention, but just like Flick Golf, the tough part is finding the time to stop playing.

8/10