Developed by Conniption Entertainment, Pathways is a challenging adventure in which you are pitted against a series of more and more difficult mazes. Within each maze, there lies a network of stepping stones, each having a certain number of times that you can pass over them. It certainly makes for some very tough gameplay that's all the more rewarding when you complete the level and move on.

You play as Tommy - who has stumbled upon the Pathways along with his friend Eddie, who finds himself captured by the hooded maze master. Through the game's 75 levels, you will be on a quest to find your missing companion. Presumably you defeat the Pathways and rescue Eddie after you complete the 75th level, but we never got that far - only up to level 41 by which point we'd had enough. Simply put, this game is solid. The level designers made great use of all the different blocks - there's moving platforms, teleportation vortexes and permanent wooden pathways which cannot be cleared - these all add to the challenge.

Controlling Tommy is a matter of tapping in the direction you want him to go - it can be a little slow at times, thankfully if you tap faster the walking animation will speed up and he will move to the next stone quicker. It's still not an ideal solution, but given that a lot of time is spent over solving a level and there's no time limit, we can forgive the control scheme. What we can't forgive is the blatant lack of an undo button, so if you misstep then you will have to restart the entire level again. A sophisticated undo tree would eliminate the need for the restart button altogether, but it's not here.

The presentation in Pathways is somewhat of a bricolage - a little rough around the edges, and nothing that will outright wow you, but it's functional and clean nonetheless. The animation is good, and we liked the way that Tommy fell asleep whilst pondering over the next move. The music is weird in a cute sort of way, but it doesn't really provide any atmosphere. Playing without was a much better experience. However, we appreciated the multiple save slots, which is great if you share your iPhone and don't want someone impinging on your progress.

But if you can overlook the presentational flaws and annoying lack of an undo button, Pathways is a fun game that provides plenty of brain stimulation (and subsequently, headache) and will keep you entertained for long time until you beat it. It's certainly not the best visually, but the true draw is the gameplay - this is one game that truly has substance.

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