Spectrobes Mobile

The simplest games have left the greatest legacies. For example, Grandmas have heard of Pac-Man and Tetris, but even though we gamers foamed at the mouth for Halo and Gran Turismo, the creator's of those franchises have had to churn out sequels to keep their pride and joy warm in our hearts. If you took a poll of a wide enough age range, it'd be the simple games that find their way to the top (along with all the different iterations of Pokémon).

Accordingly, perhaps, Disney's mobile division has tried to bringing Spectrobes (a 'Gotta Catch 'Em All' wannabe) to mobiles using the simplest, most accessible genre known to man: the coloured blob matching game.

A particular favourite of office workers trying to look busy on their PDAs in meetings, the coloured blob matching genre has managed the same feat as Tetris and the other aforementioned classics, in that people who claim not to play games play blob matching games.

Will they play this one? Well, mobile Spectrobes first comes across as being quite complex, appearing to require that you micro manage the skills of the mystical beasts that you collect, and that you know which to pitch against which bestial foes. But it isn't really the case; the gameplay is deceptively simple.

The main story involves you exploring planet to planet through a small solar system trying to recapture your stolen spectrobes – your monsters – from evil space pirates.

Soon you'll be capturing new spectrobes to add to your collection, and while you'll find that some are more accustomed to fighting certain enemies than others, the action is identical regardless of which you choose to fight with. Each round you'll either be battling another spectrobe or feeding your feisty pets to make them stronger. And it's here that the more familiar sight of the coloured blob matching mechanic arrives.

As blasé as we might be about such a well-worn yet undeniably entertaining type of game, it's actually rather good fun. You have to find a blank area on the grid, set your cursor down, and shuffle the minerals in the same row or column into the blank square to line up three or more of the same colour mineral. Do so and that row/column is removed from the grid.

In feeding missions this shuffling boosts your creature's three main stats, but it's the fighting rounds that you're paying the admission price for.

When fighting another spectrobe you have two forms of attack, performed by lining up red and yellow minerals and using the columns and rows to fill the two meters around your character's portrait at the bottom of the screen. When either of the meters is full, your furry combatant will strike.

All the while your opponent will be attempting to do the same, which means that you'll be taking hits and your health will diminish. If you can match three or more green blobs you'll recover a little health, though, so you need to balance attacking with replenishing your wellbeing. Matching blue minerals, meanwhile, temporarily freezes your opponent, giving you some breathing room.

The round is over when either your health bar or your adversary's is depleted. Assuming you're the victor, you get to keep the spectrobe you beat and can use it in later battles.

It's all good fun, while it lasts – the main campaign is criminally short and leaves you wondering whether it was worth collecting so many creatures to battle with because, really, you don't need them all. Obviously though there's a draw in completing your collection, and Spectrobes' foundation in the blob matching puzzle game is thankfully diverting enough on its own merits to be worth playing after you've completed the story.

That said, it's far from being the definitive title in the whole colour-matching sub-genre, which means that if you prize puzzling over Pokemon, you'll want to venture out-of-system.