Chicago Wars

Being a mobster in the prohibition era must have been tough. Not only did you have to put up with policemen haunting your every move, and a world without video games, but you also had to dart around three lanes of traffic, somehow shooting machine guns out of the front of your car.

At least, that's if Chicago Wars is to be believed, and I'm willing to bet that it isn't. Still, historical accuracy isn't everything, and while the game is a one trick pony of the highest order, its trick is at least reasonably interesting.

The game sees you driving an old-fashioned car down a three-lane highway, hot on the tail of an assassination target. You need to weave through the other cars, and blast the snitches away with the Tommy guns that are probably sticking out from under the bonnet.

Tapping '4' or '6' switches the lane you're in, which is useful not just for following the erratic path your target takes, but for dodging members of the public who clearly don't realise there's an exciting mafia chase happening behind them.

Crash into a single car and you'll explode, and have to go through the whole thing again. Your would-be victims lean out of the windows of their cars and pelt you with bullets too, so you need to be pretty nimble with your fingers to avoid annihilation.

There are three different assassination attempts to work your way through, with the latter two unlocking when you've performed well enough in the first. It's not a lot of content, and the game gets repetitive pretty quickly.

There's nothing wrong with the twitchy arcade gameplay, although the game does look pretty dull. It's just a shame that there isn't more variation. You're not really in a war -just an incredibly serious game of dodgems that rarely lasts as long as you'd hoped.

It's difficult to recommend Chicago Wars for that reason. It's a brief burst of fun, but it's not really worth the hassle of installing on your phone. By the time you've finished your first go you've already seen everything the game has to offer.