It may surprise you to hear this, but Way of the Dogg, a blacksploitation, time manipulating rhythm fighter starring rasta rapper Snoop Lion, isn't zany enough.

You'd think a game that casts Snoop as a kung fu guru who possesses the secrets of time travel would be chock full of psychedelic visuals, crazy characters, and inventive special moves.

Instead we have a perfectly competent rhythm game, one which arguably works better on iOS than it does on consoles, but which fails to take full advantage of its ludicrous premise.

You assume the role of the unfortunately named street-fighter America Jones. With your girl dead and your mind set on vengeance, you seeks aid from the Doggfather himself. After a quick chat, Snoop sets about training you in the ways of combat. This training takes the form of a tap and swipe based rhythm game. Chained sets of circular prompts appear on the screen. It's your job tap these circles in time to the music, thereby executing a successful attack.

While the Xbox version has you tapping buttons and waggling thumbsticks, the touchscreen gestures demanded by the iOS incarnation are a more natural fit for a game of this nature. They're relatively reliable, too, with only a couple of questionable responses souring the fun.

As you would expect, the tempo of each fight is determined by a track from Snoop's expansive discography. Though the beats are well-fitted to the action, the lyrics have been edited to garner a 12+ age rating. They are also reused a fair amount, with only eight songs retooled back up 14 fights.

The cell shaded characters look great, though you will spend most of your time eith obscuring them with your hand, ignoring them to focus on the prompts.

With a plot that openly draws on blacksploitation tropes and kung fu movie stereotypes, you'd hope that Way of the Dogg would be crammed with loopy dialogue and memorable showdowns. Oddly, though, the guys at 505 Games have opted to play things rather straight. Given that the story goes down some seriously whacked out paths, the sober lines delivered by Jones feel slightly out of place.

Needless to say, Snoop Dogg / Lion / whatever fans will get the most out of this interactive package. We'd also say that this is the best version of the game available, a perfectly acceptable way for rhythm game acolytes to kill an hour. We just wish they they'd thrown in some more tracks, and let the lion out of his cage a bit more.