Eagle Eye

There's an increasing number of games across a multitude of formats that make the notion of lives feel slightly archaic. Numerous shooters now rely on a system where finding cover for a period of time when injured restores your health, while platformers - and now even racers - that let you reverse time to right your wrongs became commonplace a few years ago.

In a similar fashion, Eagle Eye doesn't want you to die – it doesn't even want you to fail. Or, rather, when you do, it wants you to bounce right back. This doesn't for a minute mean that it's painfully easy - it's just a bit more forgiving than some of its rivals.

While it looks just like a 2D action game (and, indeed, there are entire levels that revolve around you punching and kicking your way forward), Eagle Eye has a heavy reliance on its puzzle elements. It's far more likely that the game's mental rather than physical challenges will prove the biggest stumbling block for most players.

That's no bad thing as, despite being incredibly easy to control, the puzzles Eagle Eye throws your way gradually offer more of a test as each level passes, to the point where the game thrives on you making the right decision with the clock ticking down. Yes, while this is a thinker's game, the fact that time is never on your side means that most of your decisions are made on impulse. That's incredibly fitting given that, from the outset, you're largely kept in the dark as to the reasons for your actions

Anyone who has seen the film Magmic's game is based on will know that a large portion of it is about Eagle Eye's lead – Jerry – being coerced into action almost against his will. Likewise, the game focuses in on Jerry and single mother Rachel, with you guiding both characters co-operatively through various obstacles.

Co-operation is essential, largely because both characters come with their own skill set. Jerry, for instance, can jump, climb, hide in shadows and hack into computers, while poor old Rachel doesn't do much aside from charging into guards, picking locks and slipping through air vents.

Success therefore comes from bringing the two together, with Jerry helping Rachel up to higher plains and Rachel opening doors for Jerry to forge ahead. Making the right choices is by no means straightforward, and it's entirely possible to become stuck, having sent either one of the two ahead to carry out a task only to find them separated from the other party with no way back. That's the game's main test, and while it's frustrating to find yourself with no way out, waiting for the clock to count you down so you can try again, at least there are no lives to lose.

The same is true when you play as the game's other main character, Zoe, who is a much more physical protagonist. Here you'll be fighting your way through officials with your fists and feet, smashing through computers rather than hacking them, and generally serving up a fair dose of action that counter-balances with the puzzle elements that make up the rest of the game.

It also helps that these two very different aspects of gameplay sandwich each other, the game leaping from Jerry and Rachel to Zoe and back again. It really does keep the interest high when you're switching from kicking down guards one minute to a lock-picking mini-game the next, and it's to Magmic's credit that the whole thing sits rather well together, throwing up diversity rather than making the game feel disjointed.

That's an impressive feat in itself, and while there's a case to say that some of the levels could do with a bit of smartening up (the fact that you can get stuck with no quick option to restart the level in question is a little frustrating), when it all goes right it feels just a little bit special. There is a genuine sense of achievement that isn't at all commonplace in many film tie-ins, and for that alone Eagle Eye is one worth watching.