Digital Chocolate is certainly expanding the superficially shallow realm of mobile rhythm games, but it still never fails to amaze us just how many drops of blood it can apparently wring from that particular stone. Christmas Toyland – despite its tooth-achingly saccharine title and overly cutesy theme – is a highly appealing game that fits the palm of your hand perfectly.
Early screenshots suggested a game along the lines of SimCity, with the isometric Toyland of the title growing in accordance with your progression through the game. While the expansion of Santa's town does indeed work this way, those screenshots were a little misleading as this aspect of the game is (for the most part) non-interactive. The real crux of Christmas Toyland is more akin to Digital Chocolate's much lauded Tower Bloxx series, though it's considerably easier on your phone's processor.
Taking command of the elves who slave throughout the year in the Jolly Red Giant's sweatshops, it's your job to get the presents packaged and stored, ready for the big day.
As the pyramidal stockpile of presents grows, Toyland expands to accommodate the increased productivity of Santa's workers, with new factories, workshops, post offices and all manner of candy cane, ginger bread and tinsel swathed edifices sprouting up around the gift-wrapped stashes.
As the present relocation technician, your responsibility lies in getting the completed pressies out of the underground workshops and arranged in a neat pyramid for Santa to pick up in his sleigh.
Starting on the bottom level of the workshop, a flustered elf runs back and forth, carrying the large gift. Using only a single button control system, you must hit the '5' key at just the right moment to launch the pressie up to the elf on the next level who, assuming it's a good throw, catches it and also begins running hither and yon.
If the present is dropped three times before it reaches the sleigh at the top, it breaks, and Santa's jolly wrath descends upon you.
The difficulty of the workshop ascension is dependent on the colour of the gift – with each hue carrying a higher possible score and becoming significantly more difficult to extricate from the underground factories. Once the present's been successfully passed from elf to reindeer to penguin, it's stacked in a pyramid of your own design.
Most colours can only be placed next to a certain number of other presents already in the stack, so a bit of forethought is required when arranging the gifts to ensure the maximum number of top quality presents in a completed pile.
A (seemingly) endless quick-play style of game is also available, and great if you don't have time to remodel the North Pole – though it's a little unforgiving at times and does pale in comparison to the full, elf-tastic game.
All in all, the feebly titled Christmas Toyland is a terrific and often frantic single-button rhythm game, once again proving Digital Chocolate to be the king of profoundly entertaining simplicity.
Christmas Toyland
The gift wrapping around Christmas Toyland makes this inspiringly simple, highly addictive game a seasonal favourite
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.