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The latest from the studio responsible for the some of the best puzzle games on both the PSP (Lumines) and the DS (Meteos), Gunpey follows developer Q Entertainment's formula of combining puzzle-based gameplay with constantly changing music and backgrounds. It's a proven recipe for a fiendishly addictive experience, but this latest iteration ends up a bit lacking.

Relying on the basics of the best puzzle games, Gunpey follows the "simple to learn, difficult to master" mantra. Split into a variety of rows and columns, the screen soon fills as differently shaped lines segments appear from the bottom. By piecing these line segments together, plays can construct lines that stretch horizontally across the entire screen, at which point they disappear. The bigger and more complex a line, the more points it's worth. Simple, right?

Sure, but it's also incredibly tricky. Forming a line that stretches the screen isn't an issue, but trying to make use of all the available pieces presents a bit more of a challenge, especially since the line segments can only be moved up and down, not left and right. So it's important to try and use as many pieces as possible when constructing lines, as if a left-over pieces hits the top row, it's game over. The resulting balance between strategy and reactions proves to be Gunpey's biggest draw, the variety of line segments requiring some creative approaches.

Yet despite the quality foundation, Gunpey simply fails to provide an addictive experience. Hampered by controls that just aren't responsive enough, the game then adopts a slow pace that allows for more control but comes at the cost of an engrossing experience. Moving a segment from the top of the screen or the bottom takes too long, even with the standard Tetris Attack-esque scheme of a cursor that swaps positions between two pieces at the press of a button. As a result, gamers are left struggling against an inadequate control setup while they fight against the onset of boredom.

Perhaps this wouldn't be an issue if Gunpey offered anything beyond the same basic gameplay across its numerous modes. A puzzle mode, possibly requiring players to make a particular shape or construct one giant line using only a pre-selected number of pieces, would have addressed some of the above issues by providing a more logic-based approach without the hassle of time-based constraints.

In what is fast becoming developer Q Entertainment's trademark, Gunpey's pairing of puzzle-based gameplay with an ever-changing variety of music and backgrounds tries to keep things fresh. Unfortunately, slow gameplay and even slower controls keep Gunpey from reaching the addictive calling of Q's other efforts. Still, it's a quality and well-designed puzzler that should keep fans of the genre entertained, though not hopelessly consumed.