Where's My Water? 2 is a difficult game to play. Not because the earth-filled maps are especially tough to negotiate. Or because the physics are broken or unpredictable.

No, Where's My Water? 2 is a difficult game to play because it doesn't want to be played. At least, not in the manner you or I might be accustomed to.

Things start off promisingly. The water-funnelling gameplay of the original title makes a strong return, along with the revival of shower-loving protagonist Swampy the Alligator. He's joined by his DLC buddies Allie and Cranky from the off, each of whom put different demands upon the player.

While Swampy wants clean water funneled to his shower, Cranky needs icky purple goo directed onto his dinner plate. Meanwhile Allie, the musician of the group, has you pushing steam into her pipes so she can play a merry ditty on her pipe organ.

Once completed, each level can be replayed usung a different set of rules and goals. Some challenges flip the level upside down, while others see you having to prevent water from touching any of the collectible ducks.

While the variety should be welcome, you can't help but feel that these challenges are largely padding, artificially extending the life of the game by making you repeat levels over and over.

However, a little padding is far from Where's My Water? 2's worst crime.

You see, as this is a freemium release, Disney has decided to include an energy bar which drains each time you play a level. After around nine levels, the game locks you out, displaying a timer which tells you when you can start playing again.

Initially the timer displays two minutes. You wait two minutes. You play another level. You then find yourself immediately staring at another time, only this one is counting down from ten minutes.

You can pay 69p / 99c to fill the energy bar again. You can even pay £11.99 / $17.99 to extend the length of the bar. But no matter how much money you throw at it, the bar will never go away.

Suddenly, you're focusing less on how best complete each level, worrying instead about how much energy you have left, and whether you can afford to have another go without having to wait for half an hour.

Because the game is always trying force its hands into your pockets, it actually makes you wary of firing it up. And, even if you have a bottomless wallet, the stingy refills offer terrible value for money.

Where's My Water? provided over a hundred levels (including updates) for a buck. It let you play how you wanted, when you wanted, for however long you wanted.

Where's My Water? 2 will let you play nine levels for a buck, and then tells you to pay up again or walk away. Our advice: Walk away and don't look back.