iDroidsMania

Wall-E was a great big raspberry directed at all those people who said that CGI characters couldn't tug at the heart strings. Not only is he a virtual creation, but he's a robot and can't talk. Using little more than a pair of eyebrows, he had fully grown men sobbing into their copies of What Gun? magazine.

iDroidsMania has a go at endearing you to dinky metallic characters. HAXX was a happy little robot until his wife and BabyBots were stolen away from him. You follow his journey as he treks across land and sea to get them back.

Told through charming still cut-scenes, the story grabs your attention more than you expect. However, it has minimal impact on what is otherwise a standard platforming affair.

Over the 11 levels, you get to run, jump, blast and swim your way through sewers, the iDroidic sea, HAXX's home town, and even a red light district. You move left and right using two buttons situated at the bottom-left, while shooting and jumping with buttons on the opposite side. You can choose to use the accelerometer to control HAXX if you prefer, but it isn't recommended.

While a few situations prove sticky with regard to the controls, they are largely capable in getting you through the straightforward platform challenges presented here. Within a level or two, you find your fingers moving between the buttons without much issue.

Along with running and jumping, you can fire off a variety of weapons cycled with a tap of a button in the top-right of the screen. The fact that this move feels natural is what convinced us that iDroidsMania has managed to pull off platforming on the iPhone, or at least more successfully than we're used to.

Other than obligatory jumping challenges and the collecting of keys, combat brings welcome variety to the gameplay. You start off with just your robot claw, used to overload enemy circuits at the costs of a couple of life points. You soon get your hands on a laser, bombs, shields, and invisibility power-ups too.

New enemies appear as you advance through the levels. Each demands new tactics and techniques for taking them down. No enemy is ever too difficult to overcome, though, and you're always assured to progress to the next stage with enough diligence.

This makes it a pleasure to play through, and then play through again to make sure you collect all of HAXX's BabyBots in each level, but it also means that you should go expecting a few hours of fun from iDroidsMania rather than weeks or months.

Still, there's merit in not outstaying your welcome and this mini odyssey offers enough content to justify a place on your home screen. iDroidsMania has managed to warm our hearts with its cold little metallic hands.