Linkoidz

Match-three puzzlers are three a penny on iPhone and iPod touch, to the point that if you stacked each square App Store icon the tower would reach Earth's outer atmosphere.

Speaking of which, space just so happens to provide the setting for the frenetic, thoughtful, and rewarding spin Linkoids puts on the oversubscribed genre.

Your colourfully cartoony spaceman-with-no-name has crash landed on a faraway planet, marooned with only a high-powered gravity gun and an energy shield for company - or so he thinks.

In replacing the traditional gems and bricks with the titular variegated aliens, developer Retro Dreamer lends more character, context, and threat than expected from this class of game.

While the backdrop may deviate from the norm, the central mechanic remains the same: create sets of three or more similar extraterrestrials in order to make them disappear.

Clearing the critters from the screen is done by dragging like-coloured aliens into your shield. Once you've assembled them, you swipe 'up' to fire your gravity gun, sending them packing.

Explosions spread to the surrounding columns, helping to thaw neighbouring aliens in the process. Pointy-faced orange bosses introduce an additional challenge since they cannot be moved and require a specific number of adjacent matches to be extinguished.

Lightning fast reflexes are of the essence as you navigate your way through 12 tutorial stages and 18 missions of increasingly frenetic puzzle play, for your shield can only bear a certain number of aliens before succumbing.

This combination of high-speed gameplay and strategic acumen elevates Linkoidz above its many counterparts.

The game’s 30 levels won’t, however, present too stiff a challenge for anyone well-versed in the language of match-three. Endless and Sprint modes do offer a slightly stiffer experience, if not at least additional replay value.

Still, those seeking a well-paced learning curve and a well-dressed cerebral test could do far worse than Linkoidz.