Little Britain

You'd be forgiven for not believing it, but it's actually almost three years since the last full series of Matt Lucas and David Walliams's Little Britain hit our televisions screens, yet the characters and their associated catchphrases can now be found littering the land in everything from novelty mugs to birthday cards. Presumably emerging from that same ether is Glu's mobile license, which - with no suggestion of a new series around the corner - depressingly plays out like a quick cash-in.

What's more, it appears to have been developed by someone who has spent no more than five minutes watching the show. Each mini-game feels like the kind of simple activity you might find in any compendium package, with a Little Britain catchphrase shoved on at the end.

The games themselves, in which you take control of four of the series' infamous characers, aren't really anything to write home about, either. First up is Vicky Pollard, who sets about proving that she's "is well the best skater". Controlling Vicky as she skates from left to right is a matter of watching out for the on-screen prompts, which tell you to hit either the '4' or '6' keys. Manage to hit them quickly enough, and Vicky's speed will pick up, though you also have to watch out for obstacles on your path, which you can leap over by tapping the '5' key.

Like all of Little Britain's activities, it's far from taxing, though the aim of the game is to get as far as you can before a minute's worth of time runs out. At the end of each run, you're given points for the speed at which you tapped your keys (rated 'perfect' and 'good') and the number of obstacles you managed to avoid, giving you a total score that's saved to a scoreboard and awarding you with a medal should you manage to hit the game's targets.

And that's the pattern that the other three games follow too, each changing the character and mixing up the gameplay just a little. Unconvincing transvestite Emily Howard, for instance, has her own 'Keepy Uppy' game, where the aim is to keep a football in the air by heading or kicking it, with extra points given for a chain. To do so, all you have to do is hit the '5' key whenever the ball drops, moving left and right with the '4' and '6' keys to make sure you make contact.

Again, you're given a time limit of sixty seconds, but the focus is on managing to get Emily in the right place in time for the ball dropping. Similarly, Little Britain's take on diving - taken on by Andy Pipkin - is an exercise in good timing. With Andy standing at the top of a diving board, you're greeted by a series of gauges to determine his performance. Aiming to hit the '5' key when the gauge is in the green area, your first press relates to speed, whereas those that follow focus on Andy's bounce as he hits the water.

Being overweight does have its benefits, you see, with Little Britain's diving event acting like more of a fat man's long jump. Each bounce (sponsored by Andy's sizable belly) is determined by its own individual gauge, quickening as the effect of the bounce loses strength. With three goes each round, the idea is to get as far as possible with each dive, though the game's final test - guiding Daffydd Thomas through his almost gayless village on his bike - again reverts back to a time limit.

This is probably the most difficult game, as it involves you monitoring two quick-running gauges that run in tandem to control his speed, as well as controlling Daffydd's lane discipline so that, like Vicky, he avoids any oncoming traffic. It's just about manageable on a phone's keypad, but not especially enjoyable. Though that's probably applicable to Glu's Little Britain as a whole, which is functional at best and sadly only has a tenuous link to the series as a whole.

It's a combination of traits that makes Little Britain a fairly disappointing and uninspiring package - it's basically a collection of fairly plain mini-games with catchphrases penned by Lucas and Walliams tagged on at the end. If you're a die-hard fan, then hearing those catchphrases again may well justify the game's fee, though you'd probably be better off putting those hard-earned pennies towards picking up a Little Britain DVD instead.