DeVuego BD_EN

At first, it seems like an imposition to have to start the Arcade mode from scratch every time, so mollycoddled we've become in our gaming habits. But such is its quickfire structure and moreish appeal that petty gripes fall by the wayside and concerted practice kicks in. The fact that 99Bullets is comfortably the most entertaining game in this week's crop ought to give you a clue to how impressive it really is.

Painful childhood memories aside, 99Bullets otherwise pays great homage to that era of arcade shooters – and intriguingly takes their focus on achieving high scores and actually makes it the win condition, while further keeping you on your toes with a restricted amount of ammunition. This is another in the line of quirky, interesting hybrid-genre concepts that have found their niche in the DSi Shop. And its 99 bullets are well worth 500 of your pennies to own.

The combination of two genres doesn't always equal success in the world of video games, but the unique mix of shooter and puzzler elements in 99Bullets at least creates an experience that makes it stand out from the crowd. While there will inevitably be shmup fans who miss the "blast everything in sight" mentality that's normally associated with the genre, gamers who are willing to open their minds and try something new might just find the game to be quite a breath of fresh air.

99bullets is about learning rather than doing: each run-through of arcade mode starts at the first level, so replaying layouts and learning to perfect them is the cornerstone of its design. There is a level select to practice any previously completed stage, but this could have done with something smarter – a randomly generated endless mode, or at least some online leaderboards. As it is, 99Bullets is a smart idea, executed in a very controlled fashion, but could do with letting its hair down occasionally.