Amp, Watts & Circuit

The problem with most of the robots we see in the real world is that they're unwieldy and not very smart. They can do one thing really well, but they'll fall over and explode if they have to leave their comfort zone for even a second.

It's that lack of common sense that occasionally spoils Amp, Watts & Circuit, a cheeky puzzle game about three robots on the lam from the factory they were created to maintain. It probes your logic muscles pretty well, but a little too often you fail because the idiot robots end up going the wrong way.

Robot dance

The game is all about moving the titular robots to squares on the screen marked with their initials. You watch proceedings from an isometric viewpoint, sending your robots skittering around the screen with simple jabs.

Of course, there are obstacles in your way, from squares that disappear once you've rolled across them, to circuits you need to create with Circuit in order to place new walkways where none existed before.

There are three character portraits at the bottom of the screen. If you tap on one of these and then tap on a square on the gridded levels, that robot will scurry across to that spot. It's a simple enough system, but it does feel a little clunky at times.

And a little too often one of your robots will decide not to go down the route you've cleared for him, but instead head off down a path lined with spikes and bottomless pits. It's incredibly frustrating, and spoils a lot of the good work the game does.

Android power

Once you realise that the robots have suicidal tendencies, you err on the side of caution, tapping out safe paths instead of just telling them to head straight for their final goal. That's all well and good, but in a game that grades you for the time you take it's far from a perfect solution.

There are more than 50 rooms to try to escape from, set over four distinct zones. A clever online mode lets you build new levels to challenge friends and strangers, and earn XP by completing other people's levels.

Amp, Watts & Circuit certainly has its moments, and as a puzzle game it gives your brain a decent workout. It's just a shame that it's sometimes hampered by apparently suicidal mechanoids.