PUK

PUK is a game born of the same utilitarian philosophy as the likes of Hundreds. A stark, single-colour background and simple white shapes perfectly evoke the simplicity that lies at the heart of this number chasing arcade flick-'em-up.

In essence this is Angry Birds stripped of its cartoon frippery and presented as an interactive design document. You twang some stuff in the direction of some other stuff and watch the ensuing destruction, all under the cosh of an ever ticking linear clock.

The game is a series of two-dimensional shooting galleries. You have a number of pucks in an enclosure at the bottom of the screen and a number of white circles in one at the top. It's your job to destroy the shapes with the pucks before time runs out.

You flick the pucks with an angled drag that presents you with a line-based aiming marker. You'll rarely have a chance to use it, though, as a rampant white bar is forever closing in on your puck space, threatening to shut it down for good.

As well as representing the neverending march of time, the closing white bar is broken into chunks that show the medals you'll receive for completing the level. Quick flickers can expect rewards that the measured ones can only dream of.

Speed is of the essence, then, but an errant puck can spell disaster too. Miss with your flick and if the puck doesn't settle safely back at the bottom of the screen it remains stuck where it lands, moveable only by force of another flicked puck.

As you progress through the levels you'll find yourself forced into making increasingly difficult shots, ricocheting your pucks around corners and obstacles to make sure they connect with their targets.

Gates open and close, circles move, and all the while you're a single missed puck away from starting your journey through the levels all over again.

That arcade purity will put a lot of people off, and some will find the flicking a little repetitive. But PUK offers a focused and taut experience, and if clambering up leaderboards is your idea of an evening well spent then there's a lot here to enjoy.