Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment or maybe there's something bizarrely attractive about its simple, clean presentation, but Who's That Flying?! by Mediatonic and Beeline Interactive is proving harder to put down than I first expected. Considering its difficulty level you'd naturally assume that time would only dull the experience, giving you more reasons to not load it up, but with each attempt you'll manage to claw your way to victory as Earth's super-powered defender.

Being a super-hero, it's somewhat difficult for you to die (in fact you're essentially invincible), though the citizens of the cities you're protecting certainly a little squishier and slowly deplete should you allow any of the minions that make up each attack wave to get past you. This is generally easy enough as you swipe or use virtual stick controls to zip around the screen, blasting these weaker minions in a single shot and unleashing super-powered attacks after racking up a large combo, however there is a hitch. Larger uglier enemies regularly act as blockades, absorbing shots and preventing you from killing the tiny minions while also stunning your character temporarily with a variety of attacks ranging from ramming you, shocking you and even coating you in goop.

At first there's not much to worry about as you can blunder your way through most levels by freely attacking everything on screen, but the game quickly ramps up and you'll need to time your attacks carefully to punish larger enemies while wiping out minions wholesale. Boss creatures add a much-needed change of pace at the end of each series of stages and are so large that the game actually zooms out to accommodate them.

These sorts of visual touches along with the friendly cartoonish illustrated style make the game easy to approach as you never feel lost as to what to do and it's simple enough to keep track of enemies (it's killing them that becomes a major concern). Should you manage to complete a city you'll unlock an Endless-mode variant for added replay value, though it's the challenge mode that will keep you coming back for more (just don't expect it to be a cake-walk).

Who's That Flying?! is charmingly cute, easy to learn and deliciously devious and utterly dastardly in its difficulty, putting it slightly out of range for the casual gamer, but a genuine boon for gamers who think they have the right stuff; worth checking out if you enjoy SHMUP titles.