Disney Sudoku Master

It may surprise you to learn that despite the word 'Disney' featuring fairly prominently in Disney Sudoku Master's title, this a game that really doesn't feel all too 'Disney' at all.

Naturally, the family favourite's cast of characters do pop up from time to time, but in reality what's on offer here leans more towards the sudoku side of the coin than it does Mickey and his pals.

Disney Sudoku Master is a pretty consummate sudoku package, the Disney element only coming into play in one of the game's main modes.

That's far from a criticism, however. Though mobile takes on sudoku are hardly rare, Disney Sudoku Master gives the game a more approachable angle than most.

Here it is served up in both its standard form (with a handy tips system for newcomers) and with a few unique twists, Disney's spin on this most mind-bending of sports making it applicable to both the adept and inept in equal measure.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

Plain old sudoku will no doubt be the first form most players will have a crack at, and Disney Sudoku Master delivers it exactly as you'd expect. Highlighting the square you wish to mark off is a case of using your phone's D-pad, the keys below naturally handling just which numbers you wish to place where.

There's also a helping hand on offer for those who come unstuck. Successfully clearing boards earns you points you can then trade in for tips on some of the trickier grids - tips that range from the game merely marking off possible numbers in set cells through to solving whole groups of squares if you so require.

However, where Disney Sudoku Master really attempts to make its name is in the spin the extra modes bring to the game.

As well as both plain old sudoku and a Deluxe mode (where, essentially, the numbers are replaced with the faces of famous Disney characters) there are four other sudoku takes, three of which basically add another line or group of cells that have to be filled with the numbers 1 to 9.

The fourth mixes up play even further, changing the shape of the sub-grids to form a kind of jigsaw. This makes spotting just where numbers should and shouldn't fit even harder to grasp than usual, the whole lifeblood of the game altered enough to make things interesting, but not enough to completely throw it off balance.

Indeed, it could be argued that play doesn't go far enough with this brand of personalisation - there's scope here to drop Disney entirely and really experiment with the format, but that might take a new release entirely.

Disney Sudoku Master's title is a little misleading. Nevertheless, even when stripped back to a plain old sudoku sim, this is a solid account of the game, in all its forms.