Centipede: Origins by Atari celebrates the classic Arcade shooter's 20th anniversary of its release on home consoles. As to be expected, the war between Gnomes and Bugs is now modernized thanks to the inclusion of purchasable power-ups and weapons, but better still, players can now engage their enemies in all-new locations complete with new gameplay features to keep you on your toes.

For those not familiar with the original, you play as a gnome, firing your puny arrows against the increasing tide of insects attempting to kill you. Unfortunately the magical land you live in has a habit of rapidly sprouting mushrooms, blocking your shots and changing the direction of many insects as they hit them. Games regularly spin in to chaotic madness and despite your best efforts, you will eventually be eaten.

Thankfully the updated version of the game brings heavier arsenal to the table, with players able to activate power-ups such as rapid-fire or explosive rounds, while also deploying traps and bombs to clear out the level and even out the odds. Unfortunately these come at the cost of coins, a currency earned while playing the game and making any kind of serious progress on one of the four playable stages will require judicious use of these unlockable and upgradeable weapons.

Sadly the problems don't stop there as smaller iDevice users are bound to find themselves in the rather awkward situation of not being able to easily access these power-ups. Your player is controlled by touching and dragging him around the screen while automatically firing arrows, however power-ups and traps are activated by touching or dragging them on to the screen, and are located at the bottom of the screen - unless you have an iPad, this means some seriously fast or finger-twisting to keep ahead of the swarming tide of insects.

Centipede: Origins has its heart in the right place, giving a classic game a modern visual polish and placing it in-line with similar titles thanks to the use of temporary boosts, but the ill-considered controls leaves it a purchase for either the double-jointed or iPad owners looking for a new game.