Ibiza Beach Party

Given that Nintendo is effectively functioning as an R&D department for the mobile games industry, it's surprising that nobody's had a decent stab at ripping off the Wario Ware games. After all, last year saw plenty of publishers releasing games inspired by Nintendogs and Dr Kawashima's Brain Trainer.

Maybe it's because Wario Ware is crazier than a bag of ferrets on laughing gas. If you're not aware of the series, it basically pioneered the idea of 'micro-games' – quick bites of fun that last seconds, slung together in a collection. And if they involves bonkers Japanese humour, so much the better.

Ibiza Beach Party is clearly inspired by Wario Ware. It's a collection of micro-games based around the infamous party island, divided between different locations. In the main Story mode you have to beat all the games in a location to unlock the next one.

Instructions? There are none. For each micro-game, you get exactly three seconds to prepare, before a single word or phrase appears giving you a vague clue about what you're supposed to do. 'Catch!'. 'Dance!'. 'Explode!'. And on one memorable occasion, 'Soak girls!'.

Yes, Ibiza Beach Party may lack the sheer lunacy of Wario Ware, but it does follow through on its own Ibiza vibe. You'll find yourself downing yards of ale, playing beach volleyball rallies, pouring cocktails, dancing, counting sharks jumping past your yacht (hang on a minute...) and, yes, soaking women with a hosepipe until they take off their tops.

All the ingredients of a typical 18-30 holiday, apart from the chicken in a basket and virulent STD when you get home, in other words.

There's the odd cheeky nod to other mobile games in there too. For example, the game where you have to take a photo of a beach babe is reminiscent of Glu Mobile's Sexy Babes Wild Waterslides, while another seems to be inspired by an old Digital Chocolate game called Sumo Smash.

For each location, you get five lives, and lose one whenever you fail to complete a game. You don't always grasp the games first time, but this system at least gives you second chances.

It's all very well done, with bold cartoon visuals and idiot-proof controls. But the surprising thing about Ibiza Beach Party is its staying power.

Completing the Story mode on Normal difficulty level unlocks a Hard difficulty level, for example. Then there's the Time Attack mode, which lets you play any game you've unlocked to try to beat your high score and, if you're good, win medals. Trust me, there's hours of potential obsession here. There's also a Survival mode, too.

We'll be honest: we expected Ibiza Beach Party to be as short-lived as a holiday fling. Play through it once to see all the games, then never come back. But the challenge of the Time Attack mode has kept us playing. It's not Wario Ware – the humour isn't crazy enough – but Ibiza Beach Party is great casual fun.