Frustration, thy name is Labyrinth. Though lets not forget that there's a satisfaction in overcoming the difficulties put before us, resulting in a fist pumping cry of joy as you exclaim your victory over developers who think they can defeat the humble 'gamer'. BeamOut by Under Clouds Games takes a different spin on the concept, giving you control over a lost UFO that needs to recharge to make its way home and you'll encounter more than a few difficulties in the process while attempting to chase this goal.

By default players are given the option of manipulating the playing area via tilt controls, however despite calibration options this never really felt accurate enough to perform the dextrous maneuvers required to reach those elusive 'gold' times on each level. A virtual stick makes for a great replacement and after a bit of practice you'll be bouncing off blocks, pigs, walls and various hazardous objects in an attempt to collect everything you can before blasting off.

The challenge is mixed up after the first handful of tutorial-style levels, with dangerous objects (including damage-inflicting animals) starting to appear, along with 'boss' fights with missile-flinging turrets. BeamOut uses a charming visual style that's relatively cutesy, though the top-down angle can be a pain to deal with as objects regularly obscure your view (including obscuring objectives), adding a layer of difficulty that seems unnecessary to an already hard to reach time-goal.

BeamOut is far from perfect, but its blend of gameplay and its charmingly cute style make it an easy game to enjoy to the finish. You may not come back for seconds, but it's still worth the ride.