Toy Mechanic

iPhone certainly has its fair share of instantly gratifying games, but every now and then you can’t help but covet a game which offers a more intellectual diversion from the daily grind.

Toy Mechanic fits the bill like a cog slots neatly into an engine, which is apt because the game sees you reassembling a dizzying range of contraptions in what is best described as a cross between a Rubik's cube and the seminal old skool puzzler Pipe Dream.

Each 'toy' is a self-contained conundrum comprising mechanical parts. Some feature a series of cogs - often of different heights and sizes - which must be linked so that the toy becomes active.

For example, a child's scooter has a cog on either side, one of which is constantly turning. In order to get the cog on the other wheel to rotate - and thus kickstart the toy into motion - you need to slide around the various cogs so a link is formed between them.

Other puzzles feature pipes that pump out hot steam, the aim being to link them together so that the contraption activates.

As you progress, the brainteasers become ever more fiendish, the more taxing ones combining both cogs and pipes in a mind-bending meld of puzzle goodness.

Since each model is rendered in 3D, you need to turn the entire object around as many of the puzzles require you to link cogs on both sides.

The 3D engine is worthy of high praise: each toy looks fantastic, with full shading and real-time lighting in place. You can even zoom in to get a better look at the inner workings of each confounding collection of machinery.

Just getting past each puzzle is an achievement in itself, but Toy Mechanic encourages you to do it with flair. Each part you shift counts as a move, your objective being to complete the toy in as few moves as possible.

Your best scores are saved for posterity so you can always come back at a later date and try and improve on your personal best. World record scores are also displayed, illustrating just how far you have to go before you can be considered a truly top-class mechanic.

With 40 different puzzles to solve there's plenty of content here, but you're sur

e to blaze through each task faster than you might imagine. Once you've seen all that Toy Mechanic has to offer - which could take hours rather than days, depending on your level of engineering proficiency - there's little to bring you back other than the allure of besting your own score.

If you're willing to tackle the game in bite-sized chunks or relish the idea of constantly improving your ability then its appeal will undoubtedly last longer, but dedicated puzzle fiends might find this too brief to advocate.