Beglitched review - a tough but adorable match-3 strategy

If there's one thing that Hollywood has taught us, it's that computer hacking is the coolest thing in the world, done by super cool dudes in leather jackets and sunglasses.

Hacking is never shown as being a bit silly and - heaven forbid - cute, leaving a neat gap for the gorgeous and bizarre Beglitched to fill.

It's as adorable as it is tricky, mixing match-3 gameplay with incredibly tough puzzle-solving, and while it takes some time to get your head around, it's well worth the effort.

Beglitched has you taking over as the Glitch Witch, a cat avatar digging around a series of files on a computer and fighting any hackers you come across.

You navigate the overworld by jumping from node to node, attempting to work out which ones are ok to dig into and unlock their secrets, and which ones will unleash enemies on you.

The nodes give a warning as to what can be found in a connected section, but it'll take a bit of luck and some hard thinking to work out which ones are safe and which will hurt you.

You'll also bump into other hackers, which sends you off into the weird match-3 gameplay as you try to find the enemy hacker and blow them up.

Each icon in this mode has a different action, and tapping on them will give you a hint as to where your enemy is hiding -compasses will point in the general direction, screens will show you how many spaces away the enemy is, and so on.

You can't just use these willy-nilly though - you'll need to match batteries to gain energy, and do all this in a certain number of moves unless you want to get attacked.

Taking the enemy out requires putting a bomb directly on top of them and triggering it, but some enemies move around, while others have multiple hit points, so you'll need to focus to get the job done.

If that all sounds a bit confusing, it's because it is. Beglitched tries to explain its concepts as best it can, but until you've played through a few rounds for real, its mechanics are tricky to get a hold on.

It doesn't get much easier once you get the hang of things either, as the game throws harder enemies and new icons at you to mess up your gameboard and kill you.

But it's incredibly rewarding and satisfying when you do finally land that hit, get an item, or generally pull off something cool and clever in the game.

Basically, don't be fooled by Beglitched's silly nature and cute graphics - it's all a mask for the endlessly tough puzzles that await you within.

It can be frustrating to get your head around in the opening few matches, and you'll consider giving up altogether more than a few times.

But stick with it, and Beglitched will delight and amaze you time and time again, all the while making you feel like a hacker god.