BioSub is an arcade puzzle game that tests both your mind and your dexterity. You control a bio sub and it's your job to clean up the hazardous waste from the deep ocean waters. This is done by colliding canisters of the same colour with one another, therefore neutralising them. Your sub isn't harmed by the chemicals unless you take too long to clear them, in which case your sub will explode. Tilt controls in a matching game is an interesting mix - especially when you actually have to use your brain, and unfortunately we found that we had to think just a little too hard at times.

To move your sub you can either use tilt or touch-and-drag controls, and while the game was designed to use the accelerometer, we found that the touch controls worked much better. The levels, like in most games, start very easy and slowly get harder and harder. At first there are only a few canisters for you to nudge into each other but eventually other obstacles and challenges are introduced into the puzzles. These come in the form of more canisters, mines and some type of solid sea weed. Canisters are also frequently tied together, or to your sub, making the levels much harder, and in some cases, frustrating.

BioSub is set up like an arcade game, but it has distinctively separate levels that you play. This means that your score is carried with you as you move from level to level and is then submitted to OpenFeint scoreboards when you lose all three of your lives. The OpenFeint integration also lets you earn achievements for various tasks you complete in the game, therefore increasing the replay value.

Floating around in the water solving puzzles is fun but we did find that some things just didn't click. To try and make the gameplay as fluid as possible BioSub allows you to go through the sides of the screen, unfortunately this has the opposite effect. Being able to go through the sides, while being crucial to solve some puzzles, is also extremely confusing since at some points in the game you will see a part of your sub in each corner of the screen. Each level also gives you a set amount of time to complete it in - causing a hectic rush in some levels. We think that the timer should be kept in the game but a separate "free play" mode should be added which would let you play without a time limit.

Like all of Origin8's games, BioSub is very polished and has a wonderful presentation. All of the graphics and animations look great in both the menus and the actual game. The start screen, which overflows with green water, is those nice little touches that complete the games' presentation. The only place we feel that BioSub wasn't designed practically is its level select screen. It takes ages to get from level 1 to level 70 because you have to scroll through them very slowly. We think a simple number based menu with a preview screen to the side would have worked much better.

It took us well over two hours to get through all of BioSub's levels and since you are given an award (one to five) on each level there is certainly a lot of content. Our time with BioSub was enjoyable, but we were thoroughly confused and irritated at some points. For 59p this is a good game, but there are a few creases that need ironing out before we can fully recommend this.

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