Critter Crunch

True, the bottom line is you're still using colour-matching and pattern-building to make things on a grid disappear. Critter Crunch does owe plenty to puzzlers which have come before such as Bejeweled and Pokemon Puzzle League. (In fact, the medium yellows bear a remarkable resemblance to Pikachu, which should make the game even more appealing to those who've always wanted to push the cheeky little fellow's smug squinting face into a fire and watch his jaundiced skin blister as his rosy round cheeks burst open like tomatoes in a microwave.) However, there are new ideas here and the game has enough depth to make it feel fresh.

It also helps that the presentation is great. The critters manage to be cute without, well, making you want to push their faces into a fire. (The vomiting probably helps.) They look like they're straight out of a cartoon - an animated film like Spirited Away though, not some rubbishy Saturday morning nonsense. The background music is excellent, jolly without being obtrusive and gently hypnotic enough to make you forget what time it is, everything you were supposed to do today and why anyone would ever want to do anything else anyway.

Along with the basic mode there are Puzzles to solve. These involve clearing the screen of critters using a maximum number of moves. There's no spawning so the Puzzles are ideal if you want more time to think and less pressure. Then there are Challenges, which present you with a specific objective - "Fill the meter by popping chains of only three critters or more," for example. Some of these can be quite tricky so they're ideal for those who have mastered the Adventure mode.

Critter Crunch also offers up two online options. In co-op mode you and another player attempt to clear a giant grid and stay alive as long as possible. It's fun enough but it's not much more enjoyable than single-player mode as you can't tell what the other person is planning. It's frustrating when the other Biggs swallows the keystone critter in the giant combo you've spent ages setting up, for instance.

In versus mode each player gets their own grid and they're displayed side-by-side on the same screen. There are some superb power-ups in play here, such as the one which makes your enemy's screen go all wibbly while crazy monsters swirl around and trippy music plays. Once again films like Spirited Away come to mind, not to mention In the Night Garden after 15 vodka Red Bulls.

All in all, the online co-op is forgettable and the versus mode is enjoyable. The Puzzles and Challenges are different enough to be worth taking a look at. But it's Critter Crunch's basic mode you'll return to again and again. It features some of the best elements of classic puzzlers along with some fresh ideas, finely-balanced gameplay and polished presentation.

It's also highly addictive. Perhaps not to the same extent as crack, but at least it's cheaper - £4.49 for the full game, which works out at an estimated 1p per hour of fun. Which is a much better deal than a hundred pounds per half hour of fun like ooh I don't know I just can't think of anything.