Stranded

Was anyone seriously surprised when Simon Cowell chose a mirror as his luxury item on Desert Island discs last week? Okay, so it could've been a Page 3 girl, but the man's narcissism knows no bounds.

There are no Page 3 girls in Stranded (unusually, given Glu's recent form). And there are no mirrors. But it is set on a desert island, with a premise that's eerily similar to Channel 4's Lost.

You wake up on a desert island surrounded by strangers, with a smashed-up lifeboat giving a clue about how you got there. Your job, should you choose to accept it – and let's face it, the alternative is sunbathing – is to ultimately escape, while also exploring some of the island's secrets.

On the face of it, Stranded is a fairly standard puzzly-adventure. You walk around the island talking to people, who'll give you tasks to complete. In the initial stages they're simple, such as gathering firewood to make a fire, but they gradually get more complex, while revealing more of the plot.

Yes, there's a plot. And it's a proper one too, complete with twists, diversions and not-so-secret villains. It arcs throughout the game, which is structured into six 'chapters', each of which finishes on a TV-style cliffhanger. Well, except that you don't have to wait a week to see what happens next.

However, Stranded is also one of the most open mobile games we've played. You can take each task at your own pace, with plenty of scope for diversions. For example, you can hunt wild boar or not-so-wild chickens, go fishing, or plant seeds to grow vegetables.

All these activities – which are strongly reminiscent of Nintendo DS game Animal Crossing – provide food that you can cook and eat to keep your energy levels up, or sell to natives for 'shells' (which you can then spend on upgrading your tools).

Occasionally, the hunting'n'gathering'n'cooking element can take over a bit – one comparison we've heard is 'Ready Steady Cook on an island' – and Stranded is certainly the first game we've played where a whole quest is devoted to finding the ingredients for the perfect game pie.

But it's also a neat way to break out of the traditional 'do this, then do that' structure of these kind of adventure games. Another cool feature is the way the in-game clock matches the real-time on your mobile.

Go fishing early in the morning, and you're more likely to catch a sea bass. Wander the woods late at night, and you'll have snakes coming at you from all angles. Again, it's not a critical part of the gameplay, but it does add to the feeling that this is a living breathing world, rather than just a game that shuts down when you're not using your phone.

The control system is also well thought out, as you only use four keys to move, while the '5' key handles every single action, from shooting arrows to chopping down trees to talking to your fellow strandees.

Stranded is an easy game, we have to say. There are no impossibly-tough action sequences, and none of the puzzles will overly tax your brains. You can plough straight through it in six hours or so, if you don't get carried away with broiling up the perfect soup.

But the point is, you'll want to do that. It's one of the few mobile games that you might start playing on the bus or train home, but will end up missing Eastenders for, just because you wanted to see what happens next.

It's without a doubt one of the most well-crafted mobile games we've seen this year. And the ending? Well, you'll have to find that out for yourself.