Puzzle Expedition

"Anna, Ben, please take a seat. As you've been briefed previously, we're in a bit of a pickle here.

"The world is in jeopardy, and you're the only two who are capable of solving the puzzles required to put everything right.

"No matter that the puzzles appear to have no relevance whatsoever and you both appear to have been thwacked with the ugly stick - your obvious expertise is needed desperately."

So begins the story of Puzzle Expedition, a game that will baffle and intrigue you one too many times. With a gentler difficulty curve and better presentation, this could have been essential.

Solve the puzzle, save the world

Over 50 levels, you're required to help both Anna and Ben reach the exit door.

There are stone blocks, teleporters, lifts, platforms, and steep drops to navigate, and both characters need to work together to overcome the challenges.

It all starts off with the basics - pushing blocks into gaps, climbing over gaps, creating pathways to the exit. Then, around level six, you suddenly realise that you have no idea how to proceed.

Puzzle Expedition is incredibly, mind-boggling clever. It's genuinely eye-opening to see the ideas it manages to explore, and we found ourselves getting stuck several times before we'd even reached level ten.

*Searches online for walkthrough*

The difficulty curve is too steep. The game suddenly gets hard-as-nails, and while the puzzles are awe-inspiring you're unlikely to 'get' them straight away. A few more introductory tutorial levels would have been welcome.

Fortunately, there are no time limits, scores, or lives, meaning that you're left to your own devices. You can attempt to tackle puzzles at whatever speed you like, which is a blessing given how obtuse they become.

You can essentially sit back, scope out a level, and then pinpoint exactly what you need to be doing.

Double vision

This isn't Puzzle Expedition's first outing - it was originally a PC game before making its way to Nintendo DS and now iOS.

The DS version had 90 levels in total, including special levels that spread across the two screens. We're hoping that at some point these extra 40 levels are added to the iOS version.

We're also not completely in love with the saving system. At any point, you can 'quicksave' a level, and then 'quickload' through the menu if you realise you've messed up.

This is pretty fiddly, and the game could really have done with a more simple 'one step back' button for rewinding through what you've done.

Puzzle Expedition is deceptively clever and will test the most hardcore puzzle-lovers. More casual players may, however, find that they're completely stumped before they even properly begin.