4 Elements

3 cert, Mastertronic, Nintendo DS ***

With gentle puzzles, a breezy pace and nice colours, 4 Elementsis pretty agreeable. Well, I could have done without the poor-man's-Tolkien story, mumbo-jumbo about a quest involving the four elements. Some of the game's tasks could have been found in an old kids' puzzle book, and require you to find objects hidden on a screen, or to do a spot-the-difference quiz. But more often there's Tetris-style manipulation of objects, such as matching tiles of a similar colour so they'll form a chain, then disappear and clear a path to your destination. It could be a tad more challenging and less generous with the clues, but as a simple, playable puzzle game, 4 Elementsis user-friendly and engaging. It's nicely packaged as well, with simple, attractive graphics and mellow, chiming music – the kind you'd find in a mid-price Chinese restaurant.