Qwak

A quick Qwak quiz: on how many different platforms has Jamie Woodhouse's duck taken top billing?

If your answer is anything other than six, take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror.

21 years after hatching on the BBC Micro, this colourful and charismatic duck has finally flown onto iPhone and iPod touch.

The keys to progression in this puzzle-cum-platformer are the keys themselves. Stationed around the increasingly complex 70 scenes are exits through which Qwak must pass before a shower of spiky balls rain down on his parade.

To unlock these gates to freedom (i.e. the next level), you have to collect all the golden keys scattered about the terrain.

Challenging: yes. Addictive: yes. Easy: no. In Qwak's way lies, hovers, and bounces a variety of environmental hazards and enemies.

Eliminating the bad guys while at the same time skilfully avoiding impalement is tough, despite the three touch-sensitive arrows and fire button being nicely spaced apart and pleasingly responsive.

Aside from the stringent level of difficulty, gripes are few and far between. Yet the omission of any social gaming network integration is a puzzler, particularly for those among us that care to publish high scores for all and sundry to challenge.

A multiplayer mode of any kind is also conspicuous by its absence. However, it's difficult to gripe about what's missing when what's there is so fun. Qwak may not have all the modern conveniences of gaming, but it hasn't lost any of its charm, and it comes recommended.