The original Gravity Duck saw you navigating small stages by reversing gravity. It was cute, kooky, and clever, but it lacked variety and challenge.

Gravity Duck Islands addresses that by adding extra mechanics on top of the gravity-flipping – a 'jump' button, which becomes an 'inflate' button on the second island, and then a 'teleport' button, and then a 'phase' button.

It also throws extra elements into the mix. Rather than just making your way in your own time towards a the exit in each stage you have to do it as fast as possible in order to earn stars. There are also inconveniently placed ducklings to collect and save up in order to buy hats.

Gravity Duck Islands has answered the criticisms we made of the first game, and on paper it seems like it should be good, but there's still something missing. That something is called fun.

For all that this game is far deeper and more challenging than its predecessor (hence the extra point), it's still an oddly lifeless, going-through-the-motions mix of puzzler and platformer that fails to do justice to either genre.

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