Bloons

What with all the touchscreens, trackballs, accelerometers and Bluetooth controllers we've got for mobile games these days, it almost seems like a novelty going back to the single thumb system.

It used to be the pinnacle of mobile game interfaces, being able to play with just one thumb, and Bloons comes to mobile from iPhone to remind us that simple, addictive gaming still transcends flashy tech.

It'd be easy to believe that Bloons originated on the mobile and was later jazzed up for the iPhone, rather than the other way around. Not least because this is a game that fits the mobile platform so snugly.

For whatever reason, you're a monkey armed with darts, and you like to hang around various formations of balloons. This cheeky chappy's only concern is popping a requisite number of these balloons with however many darts he happens to be holding each level.

Often enough you've only got the one missile, so pixel-accurate aiming and power is vital to taking out the number of required balloons. It's an immensely simple concept, but very addictive, despite the frustration at regularly leaving a single balloon unpopped.

Rotating your aim is the first task, though it's important to remember that weight and inertia are strong factors in the dart's physics. Throw it gently, and it drops out of the sky in a sharp curve. Throw it at full power and it pretty much flies in a straight line.

A host of different types of balloons must be manipulated along the way to achieve your goals, such as hitting an exploding one in and amongst the pack to trigger a chain reaction, or even taking out pieces of the scenery to make way for your next projectile.

It's not exactly a strategy game, and it's pretty ham-fisted as a puzzler, but there's something unnervingly addictive about Bloons that ensures you'll never be able to leave a level unfinished.