BurnStar

One of the first lessons your parents should have taught you is to never play with fire, but for plucky freedom fighter BurnStar such life lessons have been conveniently forgotten.

You see, while the rest of us were dutifully following the counsel of our parents by avoiding matches and other dangerous items, he was gleefully learning the tricks that would eventually allow him to become the world’s saviour.

On a mission to rid the world of the tyrannical mega-corp Evil Industrial, you guide BurnStar through 100 different levels packed with puzzles, enemies and - most importantly of all - plenty of combustible boxes.

Relight my fire

Using various fire-starting items – such as lighters, bombs and projectiles – you must ignite as much of the level as possible and rid the world of Evil Industrial’s shameful work. Flammable objects include crates (which come in various sizes, each with a different degree of explosive power) and greasy oil, which is also excellent for channelling fire in certain directions.

Turning the heat up is simple: you control BurnStar by tapping on his desired location. Setting fire to a crate is a case of highlighting it and then selecting the appropriate piece of ordinance from your inventory.

The aim is to reach each level’s burn count. This means you don’t have to set fire to every last thing, but failing to reach the desired level results in failure. Naturally, a 100 per cent burn rating nets a higher score.

The number of available fire-starting items is strictly limited, so you need to deploy them wisely. Taking this into account, its little surprise that BurnStar soon becomes a devilish mind puzzle, where you have to predict the explosive pattern of each block to ensure you take out as much of the level as possible.

Flame-broiled whopper

Of course, it’s not quite as easy as just setting fire to something and running for cover. Evil Industrial has recruited security robots that patrol each stage - should you make contact with them it's BurnStar's flame that's extinguished.

Early levels start out easy enough: when you take your time to think logically it’s easy to predict the path of destruction your flames will take.

Later stages, though, ramp up the difficulty. Not only are crates laid out in ways that require a perfectly-constructed chain of explosions to remove them all, but you also have the additional headache of avoiding the unwanted attention of the various robots which inhabit each stage.

Hot under the collar

It’s this gradual learning curve which makes BurnStar so compulsive. Just like the fires our protagonist is so fond of starting, the addictive nature of the game spreads almost uncontrollably.

Repetition does creep in on later stages and it’s a shame that there’s no way to share your best score with other players, but such criticisms are minor.

BurnStar is an effective combination of tight controls, clever gameplay mechanics, and an almost perfectly-pitched challenge. While we’d love to have seen a bit more variety in the core gameplay, there’s no denying that once it takes hold, this game’s appeal quickly catches like wildfire.