Mobile Games Roundup

Ever noticed how snooty some people can be about mobile games, or downloadable games in general? As if the fact that they're cheap, and possibly short, somehow disqualifies them from being considered 'proper' games?

The same applies to the scores we attach to the games. Some folk appear to require a sort of universal scoring system, where only full price titles can possibly be worth high marks, and anything simple and cheap can only deserve a maximum of, say, 5/10.

Anyone who has sunk hours into a life-sapping game like Game Dev Story or the absurdly addictive Flick Kick Football knows what absolute nonsense that is, and yet it's surprising how many people still don't get it. Perhaps it's a mindset born out of well-worn habits; it feels like older gamers brought up on simple games have been instantly receptive, while some of those schooled in the modern epics can't quite see the appeal.

Which side of the fence are you on?

Perfect Cell

• iPhone /iPad (unified binary) - £2.99

Having spent the best part of the past couple of years battling notorious trademark troll Tim Langdell, it's nice to see the Mobigames mob back with a title that's unlikely to require a name change. Unless Rare trademarked 'Perfect'.

Taking its cue from Chair's universally lauded side-scrolling action adventure Shadow Complex, Perfect Cell tasks you with guiding "the most advanced creature ever developed on Earth" out of a high security submarine base. There are only so many episodes of The Only Way Is Essex that you can reasonably be expected to miss out on.

This 'creature' turns out to be a rather vengeful floating pink octopus thing that has the ability to sashay gracefully around the environment with a swipe in any given direction, or dash into things at high speed with a quick swipe.

Split into 35 bite-sized levels, the idea is to either sneak undetected to the exit, or smash everyone responsible into next week for denying you internet access and a Sky subscription. If you want to be especially violent, you can press and hold your finger on the pinky blob to set up a deadly 'draw and dash' manoeuvre to slice unsuspecting foes in half. They were probably litigious little sods anyway.

Being something of a multi-faceted individual, ol' Pinky can also divide his form in half (and eventually into three) via neat multi-touch controls – an especially handy trick when you need to press several switches at once to gain access to locked-down areas.

The further you progress, the uglier the whole sorry mess gets, with sweeping lasers, radiation, and armoured foes showing you who's boss. With its nugget-sized level design, intuitive mechanics and impressively lavish production values, Perfect Cell is one of those perfect on-the-road games to savour one tasty chunk at a time.

8/10