Bellyfish

As the old song goes: fish gotta swim and birds gotta... well, actually, birds aren't so important here. Bellyfish, you see, is all about a fish doing what a fish gotta do - namely, swimming for its life in this brand-new 'endless' action game.

The endless genre is so ubiquitous on iOS these days that there's limited scope for genuine innovation. Wisely then, Bellyfish opts to focus on polish - delivering a game that, while entertaining enough, makes little attempt to deviate from the well-established endless-climbing formula.

Rising damp

This time around, you're placed at the bottom of the ocean and asked to flap your little fins as you scramble up the screen, dodging amoeba, jellyfish and other deep sea-dwelling miscreants - all deviously arranged to create a game that turns out to be far tougher than its cute, casual trappings might suggest.

You're not quite utterly defenceless, though. As you swish back and forth, you're able to collect bubbles and slowly increase your health - letting you withstand more than a single collision with one of the game's exotic enemies.

Occasionally, power-ups drift by, imbuing you with a range of handy skills - from chilli-powered speed bursts to enemy-repelling ghost suits. Coins are used to upgrade the effectiveness of each power-up and can, of course, be bolstered with a ton of in-app purchase options.

Motion of the ocean

All this action, incidentally, is controlled by tilting your device as Bellyfish provides his own forward momentum. It's a reassuringly responsive setup, too, giving the game a fast, fluid, and surprisingly satisfying skin-of-your-teeth vibe.

Trouble is, as slickly diverting as Bellyfish is there's really nothing to breathe life into its overly-familiar design. Sure, there's some fun to be had here, but in a sea of other endless-climbers there's little about Bellyfish that truly bubbles to the surface.