Pet Alien

Simply put, aliens that become pets should conform to certain stereotypes. Spock and Kirk fell in love with the fluffy Tribbles, while Elliott manfully looked after E.T. (Conversely, Billy Peltzer failed to keep Mogwai away from water or late-night snacks and look how badly that turned out.) But to different degrees, the creatures were cute and reliant on their human hosts.

How things have changed.

When it comes to Dinko, Gumpers, Flip, Swanky and Scruffy the dog – the stars of kids' animation and now tie-in DS game, Pet Alien – they're blessed with the sort of faces we'd expect their respective momma aliens would have trouble kissing when they tucked them up at night.

Not that it seems to bother human host, little Tommy Cadle. He lives in a lighthouse – well, this is set in America after all – and generally tries to avoid getting to involved in the antics created by his extra terrestrial guests.

Cutting to the chase, however, Tommy's been kidnapped by the Robitix, mechanised baddies who collect species from around the universe for their zoo. Working their way through 80 puzzle-based levels, then, it's up to the Pet Aliens to save the day.

Thankfully, the set-up is straightforward. Each member of the team possesses a special attribute, which has to be utilised at the right time during a puzzle in order to open the exit – something gained by collecting all the green gems in the level – and making your way to the teleporter.

You're broken in easy with Gumpers, who can bash up glass blocks and damaged walls. He's the biggest and slowest of the group, though, so it's not long before you get the option of transforming him into Dinko by stepping, appropriately enough, on a Dinko button. By holding down A, you can power up his dash: useful when it comes to moving against the direction of the various conveyor-belts dotted around the place.

In similar ways, Flip can fly over mines, Swanky can push and pull blocks around, while Scruffy can squeeze through the smallest gaps. His elastic tongue is also required for picking up some hard-to-reach objects, such as gems and door keys.

When it comes to the gameplay based around these skills, however, what's important to realise about Pet Aliens is that this is a game designed for a young audience.

The puzzles are completely linear, and aside from minor variations such as Flip and Dinko's ability to overcome conveyor-belts, there's only one way to solve the vast majority of levels. If there's a button to enable transformation into Swanky, then at some point you'll have to use Swanky's box-shifting powers to shift some boxes to either open a door that's controlled by a pressure-pad or block off a laser beam.

Even when you get the universal transform button, which enables you to choose which Pet Alien you want to become, it remains obvious who you'll need to solve the next bit of the puzzle.

Yet, the great thing about Pet Alien is this limitation really doesn't seem to matter. The game's sufficiently well crafted, to the point that solving the easiest levels is fun, even if undemanding fun. Of course, anyone over the age of about 14 is likely to methodically work their way through the game without too much head scratching. After all, you can't mess up a level so badly that it becomes unsolvable, while getting fried by a laser beam or blown up by a mine merely resets the puzzle and provides you with another attempt. Even the five bosses levels are pretty easy – amusingly, we actually found the first one to be most difficult.

The regular introduction of new elements (directing the Robitix into mines by changing the directions in which they are reflected when they run over floor buttons is good example) keeps the experience relatively fresh. And if you manage to complete the game within a couple of hours, it just means you're too old (and wise).

Longevity is perhaps a more genuine issue in terms of the absolute lack of multiplayer modes, though. Instead, there are five touchscreen mini-games – one for each character – which are unlocked as you complete each boss battle, but while they offer replayability in terms of being high-score-based, they're unlikely to keep little fingers busy for more than a hour, tops. You also get to reveal various pieces of artwork but we suspect that thrill will be limited to hardcore fans of the Pet Alien show.

Still, we hope the game will manage to find some new fans. You don't need to know anything about the TV series to play and despite the less-than-gorgeous alien mugs involved, it would be a shame if German developer Shin'en's balanced work was ignored. Go on. Open your DS and welcome the charms of Pet Alien.