Dragon Fire

Traffic control games appeal to the frustrated commuter in all of us. I mean, who wouldn’t want to rearrange the traffic in their favour as they sit stuck in an endless queue of buses and cars?

Despite sounding more like a fantasy epic than a traffic police simulation, Dragon Fire is actually all about directing traffic flow.

Unlike a rush-hour commute, though, it’s a fairly likeable experience. But, unlike a rush-hour commute again, it could do with lasting a bit longer.

The dragon’s fire of the title is the 'traffic'. An ornamental dragon’s head shoots different coloured fireballs through a series of orbs and switches.

By tapping the switches, you can change the direction in which the fireballs flow, allowing you to match the flames to receivers of the corresponding colour. To complicate matters, some switches can’t be altered, while some change themselves after every use.

There are 26 levels to the normal mode, and by the tenth, the amount of multitasking required is entertaining enough to keep you engaged, as you scramble to keep track of the direction of each switch and the trajectory of each fireball.

Sadly, this solid game concept is marred by a few irritating flaws.

The time limit is the most annoying element. As you can’t speed up the fireballs mid-game in any way, this leads to moments when you’ll have won the round and are waiting for the last fireball to reach the final receiver, when suddenly you are out of time and you have to do the whole thing over again.

When this happens, it feels like a rightful victory is being snatched away from you.

It’s also buggy in places. You can pause and redirect the switches mid-flow, yet sometimes if you do this, a flame will escape from its route completely and go bouncing around on the outside of the switches, unable to find its way back on track.

Despite these irksome chinks and the paucity of levels, Dragon Fire is still decent for dipping into. Your enjoyment of it will have a lot to do with how good a multitasker you are, though.