Diamond Islands (iPhone)

Considering the number of people on this planet who claim to be religious, tracking down just what any of their gods want from us is as ambiguous a question as just what the meaning of life might be. Nobody really knows the answer.

At a young age, I determined that any god out there would probably want me to be happy and, in my case, that usually involved eating a lot of biscuits. My cookie-creamed belly is evidence that the policy was probably short-sighted. But then, the idea that tipping a totem around town would somehow makes him any jollier doesn't really hold much weight either.

Regardless, moving said totem around island grids, picking up diamonds along the way is the order of the day. Simply put, Diamond Islands is a matter of getting from A to B.

Since a swipe of your finger allows you to tip your totem up, down, left or right, completing each island is a matter of manipulating the tower so that it ends standing upright at the designated goal. Don't be fooled by the cerulean seas, green grasses, and tropical sunshine - Diamond Islands is one fiddly, persnickety puzzler.

Like a cheap all-inclusive holiday package, each island you visit is less hospitable than the last, and new elements introduced in each one begin to cloud the picture. Open spaces give way to narrow lanes, the trick being to manoeuvre the totem in just the right way so it emerges from the other side correctly.

Dock squares, for instance, can only take your totem's weight on its side. Whenever these appear, delicate handling is needed to move your totem forward.

Other elements, including buttons and seafaring rafts, open new areas for exploration and the occasional detour. For the completionist, these detours are a welcome distraction, often leading to many of the hidden diamonds scattered about each stage.

Every tenth island presents a particularly tough puzzle, acting as a boss level of sorts. In these contests, you're restricted to a set number of moves to reach your goal. The results fundamentally change the nature of play.

While bulk of stages allow experimentation, tipping your totem any which way you like until you find the correct combination, these limited-move levels transform the game into a one-size-fits-all affair. In these pseudo-boss battles, pooling together the experience gained from completing earlier levels is the only way to crack the code.

It takes a modicum of patience to see these encounters through, but they do provide a directness lacking from the rest of Diamond Islands, where finding the fun in amongst all the fiddling is perhaps the real goal.

It's hard to really pick fault in what is yet another quality addition to Digital Chocolate's bulging iPhone line-up. Diamond Islands is an agile brain teaser with a clean look, yet doesn't quite sparkle as much as you might expect.

The game's cool tropical island temperament is initially refreshing, but there's the possibility that repeated trips to this hot destination could prove a little dry.