Like the creatures that slowly crawl towards your helpless tribe in the game, PixelJunk Monsters can sneak up on you. Those deceptively cute graphics, the bouncy music and the initially gentle difficulty curve draw you in and before you know it you’re addicted.

Deluxe is billed as the ultimate edition of the game collecting together the original PSN tower defense title, its expansion pack, and additional levels and content. It’s an ideal fit for the PSP, and at the cheap price for the whole pack, it’s a great value too. The stages are just the right length for short journeys and the simple interface transfers painlessly to the handheld’s maligned button layout. No need for a second thumbstick here.

Though not flawless – that shallow learning curve quickly rockets up to impregnable cliff face – it’s the perfect pick up and play title for strategically minded PSP owners. Just be careful not to fall into that ‘one more go’ mindset whilst travelling. You might save the village but you’ll almost certainly miss your stop.

Oct 9, 2009