Pyro Jump

Given fire is ever dangerous and unpredictable, it's often said to have a mind of its own.

With Pyro Jump, Pinpin Team takes that idea to its illogical conclusion, anthropomorphising a lick of flame and setting it off on a simple platform-puzzler adventure to save a paper princess.

While Pinpin Team's game sputters under the dampening effect of over-familiarity, it's sufficiently sparky and hot looking to keep the flames of interest alive.

In Pyro Jump, you time jumps between spinning circular platforms. Thus, this game belongs in the same platforming sub-category as Little Galaxy and Space Chicks.

However, while it shares those games' simple one-tap disc-hopping gameplay, it lacks their space-y gravity-based mechanics.

Not only does this make Pyro Jump a little less interesting to play than the aforementioned pair, but it also leads to a very exacting and frustrating experience. Mistime a jump by a split second and you'll more often than not soar into oblivion, with no invisible force gently pulling you to safety.

With a complete lack of checkpointing (understandable given the score- and time-based structure), the longer and more demanding levels result in repeated retries and much cursing.

Despite the game's exacting nature, though, Pyro Jump's world is an inviting one. Its sharply drawn characters and simple between-world storyboards are pure Cartoon Network.

While the core gameplay remains the same throughout the game's four colour-themed worlds, there are appreciable tweaks to the formula in each. One world features bouncy bumpers, while another contains half-safe, half-hazardous platforms.

Throw in genre staples like dynamite wheels (as dangerous as they are propulsive), manually initiated mega-jumps, and Mario-like wall-jumps, and you have an extremely appealing casual platformer.

Pyro Jump might not make you burn with passion, and it'll certainly make you hot with anger from time to time, but ultimately it leaves a pleasantly warm impression.