Panic Flight

The closest you'll ever get to actual panic in this freemium game is when you finally admit defeat, buy the £2.99 Booster Pack to unlock the remaining content, and then realise you need to start from scratch to actually use it.

Having to grind through the game a second time - and re-complete any missions you'd already nailed - is like discovering the flight tax clause buried in your cheap holiday flight bill.

The real shame is that, odd pricing shenanigans aside, Panic Flight has all the ingredients of an addictive 2D fly-'em-up: Sega blue skies, planes that loop-de-loop, stacks of OTT power-ups - it's all ready for lift off.

But it spends so much time trying to get you to pay out for a first class upgrade that you'll be reluctant to leave economy.

Starting out as a rookie, your job is to become a top pilot with AMA Airlines - a company known for its blonde-haired, blue-eyed air hostesses and disastrous flight path selection.

If there's a deadly storm cloud, tornado, or even air pirates stalking the skies then you can count on AMA's fleet of passenger jets to be heading straight for them.

The basic goal of each stage is to get from A to B by swooping between hazards, sweeping up gold coins and medals to boost your score, and making sure you don't run out of fuel, which ends the level in an emergency landing.

Control of your tiny plane is handled entirely by sliding a digit around the right of the screen to guide its direction. It's a responsive, straightforward system that owes a debt to indie hit Altitude on PC and feels intuitive from the start - although success is far too dependent on costly upgrades to your plane.

With 18 different flight routes to unlock and master, an Infinite score attack mode and, stacks of mini-missions to complete - like performing ten loop-de-loops for extra cash - Panic Flight is as stuffed with content as a family's suitcase.

The problem is that everything, from new planes and upgrades to destinations, costs virtual money to unlock.

Yes, you can repeatedly grind through completed stages to pep up your pay, but it'll take an eternity to complete a game that's not really worth the long haul anyway.