Dark Incursion

Dark Incursion makes a strong first impression. As you fight your way from carriage to carriage on a moving train full of imperial shock troopers, you'll notice clear signs of a developer with an eye for incidental detail.

As polished sprites do battle in the foreground, snow flecked pines rush past in the background. And as the train tears towards its destination, the cloth coverings of its cargo flap madly in the wind.

All this, and a well-executed early boss battle, leaves you with high hopes as you pull into the station ready to explore Dark Incursion's steampunk world.

Exploration is the heart of any Metroidvania game. For those unfamiliar with the genre (named after its most accomplished examples), these 2D adventure games give you the run of a large map of connected rooms, but manage your progress with tantalisingly locked doors and other impassable obstacles.

To advance, you need to search out upgrades and abilities, which gradually increase your character's mobility and martial might. But, unfortunately, Dark Incursion's awkward exploration and wonky upgrades mean it can't deliver on its initial promise.

Our iPhone review of Dark Incursion explored the inadequacies of its virtual joystick and criticised the unresponsive touchscreen buttons. Neither is an issue on the Play's physical controls. But steering busty protagonist Anya remains an awkward experience.

Movement is oddly wooden throughout, and Anya's weird momentum makes the 2D platforming feel sluggish and imprecise.

Although a D-pad and button setup makes the game feel more responsive, in the heat of a fray there remains a feeling that not all of your inputs are being registered.

We also experienced stuttering performance, with the game freezing up entirely during some of the more frantic battles. And although the combat is enlivened by pyrotechnic effects and a variety of enemy types, there's barely an opponent in the game that can't be swiftly dispatched by ducking and shooting.

Strange design decisions, such as the lack of any in-game map, disappoint and mystify in equal measure. But more problematic is the game's approach to character upgrades - or fuses, as Dark Incursion calls them.

Rather than unlocking abilities, you collect and equip fuses, which make a finite resource of your upgraded powers. Slot in a fuse that speeds up your movement, for instance, and you'll get to enjoy your boosted athleticism for all of a few minutes before the fuse is drained and you're left gnashing your teeth with frustration as Anya navigates rooms at a jog.

It's a laudable attempt at innovation, but fuses turn new abilities into resources to be hoarded for special occasions rather than the empowering novelty injections that they should be. Even worse, a couple of simple environmental puzzles make certain fuses compulsory.

If you don't have the necessary fuse, there's nothing to do but run around eliminating guards in the hope that they'll drop what you need.

In some regards, Dark Incursion seems to be a victim of its own ambition. Its most obvious genre stablemates are some of the most acclaimed games of all time, and their adventure gameplay has never really been recreated on a mobile before.

But its flaws are still frustrating, and although the Dark Incursion isn't a disaster by any means it's certainly a disappointment.

And then there's the ending. After only an hour or so of play a 'To Be Continued' screen intrudes on your mission, and the credits roll. With dozens of locked doors left unopened, your adventure is abruptly drawn to a close - whether those areas will be opened in an update or sequel is uncertain.

And whether you'll return to unlock them is less certain still.