Draw Slasher

Draw Slasher has its moments. This mash up of side-scrolling beat-'em-up and Fruit Ninja dashes along at breakneck pace, throwing monkey pirate zombies in front of your blade in short-blast hacky slashy levels.

But the touch controls aren't quite perfect, and in a game that punishes you for missed attacks and standing in the wrong place at the wrong time that can be a little frustrating.

There's plenty of rotting monkey flesh to slice your way through, and a couple of different modes to try and perfect, but while there's fun to be had, in the end the experience isn't quite as accomplished as it should be.

You play as a little ninja, sprinting around walled off side-on 2D levels, hacking apart undead primates with a flick of your finger. These flicks are exact, so wherever your finger starts on the level is where your slash starts from.

The length of your slash depends on how much stamina you have, represented by a yellow bar at the top of the screen. The more stamina, the more slashes and attacks you can chain into the same movement.

Some enemies are heavily armoured, save for one small gap. Slicing them anywhere other than that space will see you pushed back. Flying enemies hurl flames at you, lumbering Franken-monkeys smash at the floor, and fat chefs need to be stabbed from behind, to avoid the protection of their chunky guts.

There are sections of the game that play like a platformer, making you dodge enemies from above to slice a rope and bring a chunk of roof crashing down on them, and a special magic system that you can unlock and upgrade as you fight.

Everything is well put together and interestingly balanced, but there's often the feeling that the 2D playground isn't the best place for this sort of slashy control method.

In something like Combo Crew, where the action takes place in a tighter space and there's less movement, the control system works, but here it can sometimes feel like you're fighting against the monkeys and the input to try and rack up the best scores.

Draw Slasher has its moments, and they're pretty impressive, but as a package it lacks that last layer of poise and polish required to make it essential.