Crazy Penguin Party

When you consider Digital Chocolate has already entertained the idea of kamikaze catapulting penguins, eager for war and with a thirst for taking out pesky polar bears, it's hardly surprising that they'd also give them the platform to start skydiving, bouncing on blowfish, and swimming away from giant octopuses as well.

In crazy-la-la land, that's clearly the next logical step.

Yes, for those of you who previously enjoyed targeting the polar bear population with our fish-loving friends in Crazy Penguin Catapult, Crazy Penguin Party follows a very similar line - albeit this time splitting gameplay into a bunch of mini-games rather than one long adventure.

This is a celebration of all things nutty, short snippets of platformer style play moulded into one barmy package that, if nothing else, is sure to put a smile on your face.

It's also especially easy to pick up. Consisting of six different mini-games, all of them come with similar set ups, the idea being to cross the finish-line first, picking up stars along the way to knock seconds off your final time.

But it's Crazy Penguin Party's ability to keep the controls of all such games simple (most of them are a case of switching direction with the '4' or '6' keys, or using the '5' key as an action button), whilst simultaneously varying the games they're used in that most impresses.

If there's one penguin party you don't gel with, chances are there's a race here that you will come out on top in.

When taken on in Quickplay mode, each game has five difficulty settings, the idea being to go through them one at a time, the ability of your race rival improved with every step forward.

The games themselves need little instruction, the most welcome of which is probably the first on offer - 'free fall'. This is the game most similar to the original Crazy Penguin Catapult, the aim being to guide your penguin left and right as he or she skydives from a plane, picking up said stars and shooting through gateways that power up your pace.

Indeed, this is a popular theme throughout, as all five other games are essentially races in slightly different forms. Of most note is 'Blowfish Rodeo', where inflating said blowfish and then bouncing on him to propel yourself forward is the order of the day. 'Cliff Hanger' uses a similar tactic, except here jumping on polar bears' inflated stomachs is the key to climbing the stage's heights.

It's no exaggeration to suggest that some of these games could have easily been made into standalone titles of their own. Such is their addictiveness that there simply isn't enough space to detail the intricacies of each one fully here.

The fact that they're all included here in one package - neatly tied into a tile-based boardgame in Championship mode - means Digital Chocolate's penguins have proved that their talent extends far beyond merely lowering the polar bear population.