Big red buttons. They must be pushed. It’s a pretty standard law that everyone is well aware of, I’m sure, and this is the basic premise of the latest puzzler to hit Nintendo’s handheld console, which is named after another of the universe’s eternal laws - Gravity.

The game is made up of a hundred or so levels, each featuring one of the aforementioned big red buttons. A quick stab of ‘A’ on your DS causes either a ball or a cart to be dropped into the level, and it’s your task to ensure that this in turn triggers the button to be pressed by arranging a variety of objects to construct bridges or create a falling domino effect. It’s a very simple set up which I had hoped could provide some interesting and entertaining brain-teasers if done correctly. Unfortunately, it isn’t.

If you’re going to name a game Gravity, you’d have thought it would be fairly important to build a robust and satisfying physics engine from the outset. Developers Deep Silver have, however, left in far too many irritating issues with regards to the way objects behave in each level, which all add up to leave this integral part of the game somewhat lacking. It’s a difficult problem to describe as you’ve got to ‘feel’ it. Some objects behave as though they are too heavy, others too light, and most of the games pieces move as though they are at the bottom of the ocean.

The DS touch screen is used throughout the game to select and position the various blocks and poles needed to solve the puzzles albeit in a very clumsy manner. When attempting to stand a block on its end while constructing a bridge or tower (or whatever is needed), it can take many, many frustrating attempts to arrange the pieces in the correct formation, as the controls simply don’t allow the required level of delicacy. It becomes increasingly infuriating to see your solutions repeatedly falling apart just because the control system has all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

This doesn’t mean that there’s no fun to be had here. Despite the shortcomings described above, I found myself quite enjoying the first 30 puzzles or so, but the lackluster level design and lack of diversity in the tasks at hand soon became tiresome and repetitive. Once boredom sets in with a game which possesses so many basic flaws, it becomes less of a game and more a chore. On a system with literally hundreds of puzzlers to choose from, Gravity falls well short of the mark. These big red buttons are best left well alone.