Tiny Prehistoric Adventure

Tiny Prehistoric Adventure sees the diminutive spaceman from Tiny Space Adventure heading deep into the past.

And while the setting might have changed, the experience is a familiar one.

Each level is a simple puzzle. You need to find your way safely to the exit that takes you to the next screen. But now you're up against dinosaurs and man-eating plants instead of aliens.

Much as before, you're marooned and looking for a way back to your ship. This quest takes you on a miniature-sized - but still pretty epic - adventure across the prehistoric past.

You couldn't be blamed for calling Tiny Prehistoric Adventure a platform game. There are many, many doorways littered about the various levels, and they tend to transport you between different places on the screen.

Your challenge is to try and remember your way around these platforms. There's a good deal of back and forth required to make your way to the exit.

You might have to navigate your way through a series of doors to reach an upper level. From there you need to dislodge a stalactite so it bridges a gap in the platform below.

All that's left to do then is retrace your steps to the lower level, and walk safely to freedom.

There's a distinct memory element to the gameplay too, which is intriguing, but also a bit repetitive.

Make a mistake and you can have a lot of work to do just to get back to where you were.

This can make things a little tedious, but it's also where the game draws its challenge from.

It's hard to criticise Tiny Prehistoric Adventure for asking you to complete each single-screen level on just one life. Mainly because multiple lives would make things too easy.

Naturally the levels become more and more involved as you push ever closer to your spacecraft. Soon you'll have to collect items from every corner of the screen to complete the puzzle.

These extended puzzles can be a little hit and miss. Often there's too much trailing back and forth through door after door. Other puzzles demand you to scrutinise the environment to find your answer.

You'll need to spot tiny rocks, but it takes so long for your spaceman to make it to the rock once you've found it that the game loses a lot of its momentum.

Tiny Prehistoric Planet looks superb though, with its minimalist, cel-shaded visuals. It sounds just as good as well.

Those sharp visuals definitely help push you through the occasional tedium of the game's long walks. And its slightly unforgiving nature ensures you're always paying attention. If only so you don't have to repeat the hike around the doorways.

Tiny Prehistoric Adventure doesn't add much to the gameplay of its predecessor, but it's more than a collection of brand new levels.

Fans of Tiny Space Adventure will find more of the same here. And newcomers will discover a charming, if not exactly taxing puzzle game.

If you're not in a rush to get things done, and you don't mind backtracking here and there, then you'll probably find something to like in Tiny Prehistoric Adventure.