We're not sure how they thought this one up, but No Monkeys have created a unique idea - combining psychedelic, swirling structures with the hard rigidness of the Roman alphabet, adding a timer and a whole heap of achievements and challenges. It's created a whole new word game, requiring fast thinking and good mental ability.

The point is simple; you must tap each of the letters in sequence from A through to Z. It starts off easy with a big A located in the centre of the screen, and increases into much more complicated patterns which can be confusing to the eye. Good thing then, that once the difficulty hits vertical, every successful find slows down the board so you can quickly pinpoint the next letter. It works because it also manages to give your eyes a little rest between structures.

Once you've blasted through the Quick mode (don't worry, it may take a few tries), challenges are opened up. These range from beating the game in reverse (harder than it sounds), to endless mode, to very fast variants. There's also a mode in which you make up numeral pairs, i.e. you must tap 2 and then find a 3 to make 23. These extend the life of the game considerably, because they are also vital to completing all of the game's 26 achievements, including 10k (match 10,000 letters) and addicted (play 100 games). I found the game to be so addictive that I had already played 40 games and finished most of the easy achievements on the day I bought it. It's that good.

The presentation is excellent too - every unique pattern (you may run into the same one a couple of times every game) is fluid, extremely well conceived and superbly animated. Quick matches reward you with combos and a little neon rainbow, as do Blitz matches (find the letter within 1 second). Utilising these is the key to scoring huge points within the game. Sound effects are great too, but there's no music - a good choice would make the game even more hypnotic, so it's a shame it's not here. We also wish that there were a few more patterns in the game, as you will see some patterns regularly cropping up.

However, for the princely sum of £1.19, you certainly are getting a lot of bang for your buck. The achievements system is a great way to make the game long lasting, as are all 10 of its modes and high score system. If you love a brain workout you won't go wrong with Alphabetic.

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