Ports are really an odd business. Sometimes, when porting a game from it's original platform to another one, small details are lost, or the controls don't work as well as they did. When viewing an app listing for a port, you'll always wonder if it'll be adequate. Thankfully, Frenzic (published by The Iconfactory) surpasses it's original desktop incarnation by several miles, and that's due to the iPhone's superb touch screen.

As we've mentioned previously, fast puzzle games can work very well on iPhone - and Frenzic is no exception. The basis of the game is three power ups, three shape colours and six empty circles with six wedge shaped pieces fitting into each one. The goal is to increase your score by allocating wedges to each circle and clearing them by filling all six slots - filling in a circle all in the same colour earns you an additional life and score bonus, whilst making a circle with two or three different colours merely clears it, but this is easier to do so.

The three power ups are nuke (wipes the entire board), slow down (halves the game's speed for a limited time) and a x2 score multiplier. Each are obtained by filling in their corresponding circles (for example to obtain the nuke you must fill in + clear the top most circle) with a single colour, and each can be used with just one tap.

There's quite a bit of strategy to the game - although you don't know which pieces are coming up (you only see the current piece in the centre), it's always best to focus on filling a couple of single coloured circles rather than all six, especially as the timer gets faster and faster. Even so, we would have liked to have seen some indication of what piece was going to appear next - sometimes Frenzic would throw the same piece twice or three times in a row.

What really makes Frenzic shine is the integrated statistic tracking, online and location based leaderboards. The fact is that whenever you finish a game it will rank your score worldwide and on your own high score board - and therefore there is a lot of incentive to replay and try to get the highest possible score in your area. But even if you just want to play offline, Frenzic will remember the three best scores for the day and the top 25 scores of all time. Also if you score lower than that top 25, it will show you the position that you just scored, even if it's right down there with your first few attempts.

The graphics are very sophisticated, and work very well with the game's music - an electronic track which gels with the sound effects to provide a smooth experience. Nothing about the presentation stands out like a sore thumb, it's a consistent, high quality fit and finish from top to bottom. The game also looks better when it's in motion - our screenshots really don't do it justice.

We purchased the game whilst it was in the sale and didn't get around to reviewing it until now. It's definitely worth it's regular price of £2.99, and will provide plenty of challenge even if you choose to play solo. Overall, Frenzic delivers great presentation and fluid gameplay, coupled with great statistic tracking and leader boards. It easily surpasses the original game on price alone, but doesn't skimp on the details - so you won't regret this purchase.

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