In a nutshell:

A deceptively simple blob-rolling platform-slash-puzzler.

What’s it good for?

Whiling away the minutes. And then some more minutes after that.

Judgement time…

Yes, then name and look are sure to conjure up comparisons with the storming PSP success story LocoRoco, but SolaRola isn’t a brainless ripoff of another game – in fact, it’s one of the very best mobile phone titles out there at the moment.

The game is a platform-style romp that has you guiding a squidgy blob through various hazard-laden levels. Gaps must be jumped, enemies must be avoided (or blown up by rolling bombs at them) and boulders must be used in various clever ways. It’s simple, devilishly hard at times but always rewarding and addictive enough to keep you coming back for more – even as your poor blob is pulped for the fifteenth time in quick succession.

Designed specifically to look the mutt’s nuts on a dinky mobile screen, the game’s basic colours and thick black lines work like a dream, and the way your blob moves just feels “right.” It’s tricky to put into words but the wee fella has a weight and mass that allows you to get to grips with moving him about straight away.

The direction buttons “roll” the blob left and right, as well as take control of jumps, and the beautifully simple part is that that’s pretty much it control-wise – there’s no tricky hand-shifting to be done.

Basically, this is among the best mobile games out at the moment, probably because it’s an original title designed specifically for phones rather than shoehorned onto them.