Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol for N-Gage makes you think of donning a trenchcoat and coming over all Humphrey Bogart, 'The minute the dame walked into my life, I knew she was trouble. She had a figure to die for – and from the look of the gun in her hand, I was the one to do the dying.'

If you’ve ever fancied yourself as the mackintosh-clad, world weary hero of a classic film noir, Dirk Dagger is for you. Except this adventure game isn’t set it in 1930s Los Angeles but in the 21st century of New Heaven, where the villains is as likely to be a malevolent cat as a scheming Nazi - and penguins and sentient houseflies abound.

Dirk Dagger represents a return to the near-extinct genre of adventure gaming, where gameplay consists of scrolling around scenes, picking up objects and choosing from a limited set of options. At their worst, adventure games can feel like little more than a series of cut scenes linked by a tediously linear plot. At their best, though, they can feel like an inspired combination of film and game.

Luckily, Dirk Dagger falls into the latter category. The script sparkles with wit, the animation feels like an upmarket, interactive graphic novel and the puzzles – while never exactly difficult – rarely fail to raise a smile.

Like most adventure games, Dirk Dagger doesn’t really benefit from repeated re-playing, so make the most of the (approximately) three hour’s gameplay before you discover who exactly the femme fatale is and why the Fallen Idol is so important.

There’s just one big disappointment – audio is limited to the occasional, weak sound effect rather than the cynical narration and breathy one-liners it cries out for. Despite this, a real step forward in mobile entertainment – roll on Dirk’s next case...

Key details

Price: £8

Rating: 12+

Size: 23MB

Download: N-Gage