Last Exam

Britain is obsessed with shows about food. We're not just talking Ready Steady Cook, but rather series that evaluate our very relationship with what we eat. It's a trend that was first sparked by Jamie Oliver's School Dinners and now inspires a whole legion of programmes that engage the nation's belly.

But, when all is said and done, cooking is still a case of undertaking a carefully timed and measured experiment. Ingredients have to be treated in a certain way, added at a certain time, and – hopefully – enjoyed at the end. Last Exam is HeroCraft's attempt at a recipe for mobile gaming, which requires careful and patient play to achieve the best results. It's just a pity that what's been lumped in the cooking pot is fairly stale.

In plain terms, everything works. Starring as Cadet Bradley, you're introduced to a space station as Bradley prepares for his 'last exam' before joining the Galactic Fleet Military Academy. Rather than morphing into some Star Wars-esque spaceship shooter, or even a homage to Alien, Last Exam is an adventure that focuses on interrogation and block-by-block puzzle solving. Straying from HeroCraft's recipe is not an option.

The game is split into areas littered with people to talk to and items to collect. Each area has a set amount of tasks that have to be undertaken – from picking up key objects to chatting with the game's numerous galactic characters – though most take the form of puzzles, with players having to perform seemingly unrelated errands to achieve their goals, such as buying an alien a drink so he reveals information regarding the location of a keycard.

It's in this respect that Last Exam doesn't put a foot wrong. After a smidgen of investigation, it's usually apparent what people and objects can be interacted with, and progression from that area is simply a case of working out what order to do it in.

But, on a harsher note, the tasks are so mundane that it's questionable how many people will have the drive to see Last Exam through. Like many mobile developers before it, HeroCraft has fallen into the trap of oversimplifying the game's narrative because of the format, while seemingly complicating Last Exam's control method without clear reason.

On the face of it, the game restricts itself to a few key buttons, with the softkey taking the focus, as usual. In practice however, Last Exam is fiddly. Objects and people that you can interact with are highlighted by question marks appearing above Bradley's head, but rather than simply having to press one button before you do so, play requires you to turn to face it, adding a button press for no other reason than needless realism in this 2D world. Similarly frustrating is the fact that character dialogue is almost too small to be seen.

We suspect that, at some point in its life, there were some solid ideas behind Last Exam, but along the way they got watered down so while it's quite possible to play through HeroCraft's ode to point-and-clicks from start to finish without coming up against a serious flaw, but it's questionable whether most people will make it that far.

And that's ultimately the defining line for Last Exam's; undoubtedly most of the main ingredients are there, but a touch of spice along the way could have ensured that the end result wasn't quite so bland.