SonSon

Journey to the West is a classic of Chinese literature, telling the tale of Xuánzàng – a Buddhist monk – and his pilgrimage to India. Before you nod off from all this talk of stuffy page-turners, we should also point out that this literary great was the inspiration for the fondly remembered '70s TV show, Monkey.

With that programme's colourful characters, slapstick humour and student-pleasing levels of kung fu, it should be of great interest to note that SonSon draws its inspiration from the same source.

Unlike the beloved TV show, however, the focus of SonSon is on combat of the shoot-'em-up variety. In fact, it's a fairly unique hybrid of shooter and platformer, all viewed from a 2D side-on perspective. Playing the role of the 'Monkey King' Sun Wukong or one of his two companions (each possessing a unique levels of Power and Speed), players must travel from left to right, shooting baddies and collecting assorted foodstuffs for bonus points.

SonSon is the type of classically simple arcade experience that fits perfectly on your mobile. Key to this is the single-thumb control system – all you'll need here is the thumbstick to move and shoot. Take it from us, you'll be doing plenty of both, as you soon find yourself swamped by an almost constant wave of cannon-fodder.

The platforming element comes in the form of six evenly-spaced horizontal platforms which persist throughout the game, barring an occasional gap. Hitting up or down will either jump your character to a higher level or drop you to a lower one. And such switching is very much a necessity, with the oncoming barrage of enemies quick to sneak along an adjacent platform (where you're unable to harm them) and drop onto you, robbing you of one of your lives in the process.

It's the sheer variety of enemy types that proves the game's key strength and sustains your interest throughout. Without it (and perhaps even with it) SonSon proves a rather repetitive and overly simplistic affair. But let's stick to the positives – the baddies are a delight to overcome. From shambling foot soldiers to formidable hulking armored knights to leaping frogs, each presents you with a unique attack pattern to observe and overcome.

It's all delivered in the sort of bold style and bright primary colours you'd expect from such an arcade-like experience. Though simply drawn, each of the characters – both friend and foe – possesses bags of charm and, well, character. It all moves at a suitably smooth rate, too, which is an all-too-rare attribute for a mobile game.

As we touched on earlier, though, things can get a little similar after a while. There's little if any variation in the 'move right, shoot bad guys, collect pick-ups' style of play. We also found the limited continue feature to be a curious compromise. Given the stop-start nature of mobile gaming, as you snatch moments of play when and where you can, we would have preferred the option to pause and resume the game at any given point.

Because of the repetitive and somewhat exacting nature of the gameplay, SonSon isn't suggested as something for everyone. For hardened gamers who look on such classic arcade experiences with affection, however, there's much here to recommend. It may not be remembered as an Far Eastern classic like its source material, but that shouldn't stop it from becoming a potential cult favourite.