Mobile Games Roundup

Pac-Man Battle Royale

• iPad - Free (via US iTunes only)

So utterly perfect was Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (a.k.a. Crack-Man), there was probably no need for Namco's developers ever to make another game featuring the gluttonous yellow blob. They could justifiably have sat back, feet up, safe in the knowledge that they would never better it. Job done.

Being the Terminator of gaming franchises, though, it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Hence Battle Royale, another attempt at multiplayer dot-gobbling. But this isn't a twist on the Pac-Man Vs formula as you might expect, but a full-on 4-player Last Man Standing fight to the death.

Each player starts off in one corner of the maze, and the idea is to eat all of your friends. In your default state, you just bounce off one another, but chow-down on a power pill, and you become super-sized and can go on a mad dash for your fleeing opponents. Being faster than them, it's only a matter of time before you catch up with them and put an end to their miserable existence.

The chances are, however, that one of your rivals has also eaten a power pill as well, so it quickly becomes a case of being the first to get the next power pill to finish the job.

The problem with all of this is that it's all over in one round, and you're told to go and play the 'real thing' in your local arcade. You can just start the whole thing again, of course, but the absence of any competitive options, this is nothing more than a basic teaser demo.

Maybe Namco will realise soon enough that arcades are just a bygone dream for most of the rest of the world and release a fully featured version for a few quid. Until then, set up a US iTunes account and catch a glimpse of what you're missing.

We should reserve judgement until Namco releases a proper version, but from what we've seen, it's worth 7/10

MiniSquadron Special Edition

• Android - £1.86
• iPhone - Free (in-app purchases unlock two levels at a time at 59p each)

If by 'Special Edition' supermono means 'more of the same with a few new power ups', then I guess that makes MiniSquadron SE very special indeed.

If you played the original version of the side-scrolling shmup, you'll remember that everyone admired its responsive and intuitive rotational control system, cuddly visuals and wryly inappropriate soundtrack. Being able to shoot animals in the face raised a smile too, against our better judgement.

The 'Special Edition' is - let's be honest - more of the same with a couple of new power ups to try out (rapid fire and freeze). Probably the most interesting thing about it is the fact that the pricing is different on each platform. On the iPhone, you can try out a couple of levels for free, and then buy the remainder at 59p a pop, while on Android, you just buy all eight in one go for £1.86, with no free initial trial.

Given that the original came features eight levels of a similar quality (and can be tried out free first), you might be better off checking out the original first. If you just can't get enough, come back for second helpings.

7/10