Hard Lines HD

The prominence of Nokia’s Snake in schools across the world was a significant moment in the world of mobile gaming. Snake had been around for a while in various arcade forms but it was Nokia that got it global attention.

If Snake is the granddaddy of phone games, then Hard Lines is its energetic, dub-step devouring grandson. But, to further stretch an already elongated metaphor, it's far from an obnoxious youngster.

We do Tron Tron

You take control of a tiny yellow line in an enclosed space. From other sides of the screen come continuous waves of rival lines and your task is to munch glowing pixels to score points without bumping into your opponents (or your own tail).

Force another line to bash into your tail and you get extra points for vaporising them. It’s Snake meets Tron, and it’s every bit as competitive and tense as you might expect.

And that’s just Survival mode. There are five other modes to get stuck into, including Time Attack and even a straight-up homage to Snake itself.

Also present is the superb Gauntlet and Piñata modes - easily the most frantic and sweary of the selection. In Gauntlet you're thrown into the arena as it fills to the brim with other lines, all desperately trying to outmanoeuvre their opponents.

Piñata also puts you up against other lines but with the added necessity of gobbling up their shining pixel-remains for points.

Who's line is it anyway?

The competitive and alarmed nature of the game is made all the more engaging by the constant chit-chat that erupts between lines.

Upon dying or arriving on the screen each line will deliver bite-sized chunks of dialogue that range from flippant lunacy (“Weeeeeeeee!” or "Who wants popcorn?") to world-weary pessimism (“We’re all doomed”) to cries of vengeance (“That was my brother!”). These bring a lot of character to a game that's otherwise starkly presented. While the menus are disappointingly tap-based, the Xperia Play D-pad replaces the swipe or tapping controls of the iPhone or Android version, giving you a little more manoeuvrability than its touchscreen cousin.

The frantic and characterful nature of the game is only dampened by the fact that you can never play against other humans, although the AI is generally intelligent.

Apart from this single omission, Hard Lines is a personable and immensely appealing little ditty. Next to its grey granddad, its positively glowing.