Hungry Cats

The accusation many doubters place at the door of mobile games is that no-one really pays any attention to what's going on while they're playing them.

They're not wrong, either. The portable nature of our beloved phones means we tend to have them with us at all times.

Whatever we're doing – whether we're sat in the cinema, driving home from work, or burying a loved one – a quick burst on Flight Control or a sneaky swipe fest on Fruit Ninja is hard to resist.

Few are the games that actually take this into account, however, offering us an automated moment of pause in which we can occasionally glance away from the screen to pretend to engage with the rest of the world.

Hungry Cats is one such rarity.

Either out of the goodness of their hearts, or as a result of a severe case of what I like to call the 'bad codies', developer Dynamic Pixels has managed to serve up a game that both pauses automatically and actually makes you want to do anything other than play with it when it actually gets going.

Believe it or not, Hungry Cats – which offers a rather basic variation on Angry Birds style play, albeit substituting our fluffy friends with moggies – actually halts play several times during every level, giving you the perfect excuse to fling your phone across the room.

Unless you're into putting yourself through painful experiences, in which case you'll play on.

Whatever you decide, chances are you'll know exactly what's at hand within minutes of starting Hungry Cats up.

Flinging the titular cats towards a series of structures playing host to (funnily enough) a collection of angry birds is what's required, with the game loosely framing the action as a quest for sustenance.

Once you've surveyed the stage using the number keys to pan around, the '5' key brings you back to the catapult itself, with your only job being to determine the angle and strength of your shot and fire.

This is when Hungry Cats grinds to a halt unexpectedly for a good ten, 20, and sometimes even 30 or more seconds.

if you're anything like me, you'll assume you've accidentally hit some kind of key and spend half your time desperately trying to back out of it.

Even when play swings back into action, the game's take on physics is never especially convincing. The whole thing is simply a half-baked attempt to ape Angry Birds, without the deftness of touch that made that game a success.

As a result, it's likely Hungry Cats won't last long in the minds of those who play it, serving only as the perfect excuse to put down your mobile and get back to the business of living.