Sneezies

Pre-school children's television, that surreal world that we all know is now beneath us, is a curious beast. Built on the foundational trinity of repetition, silly noises, and what are ostensibly brightly coloured fat suits, it's clearly no match for the highbrow programming adults enjoy – such as Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer.

But no matter how much you'd like to punch a Teletubby, there's no denying that prolonged exposure to their repetitious whining renders it oddly compelling - especially to students on Sunday morning, whose mental age at that time is no doubt comparable to the intended audience.

And so it is with Sneezies. A game built around a concept so simplistic that it's impossible to approach it with high expectations. But, just as the (clearly drug-fuelled) creations of children's television reel you in, Chillingo's meta-casual effort will somehow swallow hours of your life.

Mechanically, very little differs from the iPhone version, and you are once again tasked with releasing a halo of sneezing powder among the titular sneezies (furry critters, encapsulated in bubbles). This initial (and only) action catalyses a chain of sneezes which liberates the afflicted, sending them groundward under their umbrellas, each subsequent sneeze releasing another batch of powder.

Due to the sneezies' soapy predicament, they drift around the screen, meaning that you must wait for the perfect time to release the powder in order to ensure the maximum possible chain. Each level specifies a proportion of the sneezies that must be saved to move on, that percentage getting ever higher as you progress through the game.

Modes of play include Classic, which consists of 45 levels; Challenge, which offers 15 stages; Easy, which replicates Classic, but gives you more chances; and Score EX, affording the player ten doses of powder with which to achieve the highest score possible.

The modes are very similar, but Challenge stands out as the most engaging. Each of the 15 stages consists of several levels, and, as ever, you're given a set number of sneezies to free. But only five doses are provided, making for some tense end games.

Despite a lack of content, complexity, or any real motivation to keep playing, the game proves to be hypnotically engaging and, even though it requires more serendipity than skill to beat, it's no less fun for it. Whether you want to pay more for the PSP version is up to you, but just don't blame us if you lose the ability to articulate your speech and revert to gurgles and vowel sounds.