Bubble Bash

This whole distinction between 'casual' and 'hardcore' games is a myth. Often, people who play so-called casual games are playing them for truly hardcore amounts of time. For every gamer playing Grand Theft Auto IV into the early hours on their PS3, there's someone else racking up similar hours on Bejeweled in a web browser. Are they casual or hardcore?

Ultimately, these labels are meaningless.

Puzzle Bobble is one of the games that smashes those boundaries to smithereens. It's like digital crack to people who wouldn't ever dream of calling themselves gamers. And for good reason: they understand that flinging coloured bubbles around is way more fun than snoring through yet another 'atmospheric' Metal Gear Solid cut-scene.

There, I've said it. Please don't write in: you know deep down that it's true.

Sadly, Puzzle Bobble hasn't made it to iPhone yet, although it's surely only a matter of time. However, in its place we've got Bubble Bash, which is Gameloft's latest attempt to take a well-known game, stick a rocket of new features up its bum, and squeeze it onto a mobile phone.

If you've played Bubble Bash in its existing mobile incarnation, well, this is the same but with nicer graphics and sound, and the addition of touchscreen and motion controls. It is, frankly, marvellous.

If you're not au fait with the Puzzle Bobble dynamic, here's the drill. You have to launch coloured bubbles from the bottom of the screen, at other coloured bubbles at the top. Make matches of three or more, and they disappear. And that's it.

Except it's not, of course. There are 17 power-up bubbles to use, including bombs, waves, flowers and switches, each of which have an effect on their surroundings.

Meanwhile, the game's 100 levels aren't all the same. Some offer the basic bubble-bursting action outlined above, but others have you trying to shoot birds out of the sky, trying to release balloons against a time limit, or even defeating boss characters.

This isn't the type of game that requires whizzy 3D graphics, of course, but it looks colourful and attractive, while the sonics are good too (as long as you don't mind Hawaiian music).

So, the controls. There are two main ways to control the game. The basic touchscreen option involves dragging your finger right and left at the bottom of the screen to move the aiming line of your bubble, before releasing your finger to fire it.

However, turn 'Gravity Mode' on, and you can also tilt the iPhone left and right to move your character left and right, getting a better angle for some shots. It's very well thought-out indeed, and ensures that within a few minutes, you'll stop even thinking about the controls, and just focus on playing.

All this, and some long-term playability thrown in, too. The 100 levels sound like a lot, but many in the early stages will only last 30-40 seconds. However, there's an additional Crab Fever (don't laugh) unlimited mode, as well as More Fun unlockable levels if you find all the collectable items hidden in the regular levels.

True, there is an originality issue here, in that Bubble Bash is basically just a jazzed-up Puzzle Bobble. But there are plenty of those around, none of which have been jazzed up as well as this game. And let's not forget the touch and accelerometer controls, which bring an extra dimension to an already loveable experience.

Casual or hardcore, then? Who cares: it's excellent.