Jigsaw puzzles can be relaxing, challenging or damn right frustrating, but they almost always require the old fashioned method of opening a box and scattering the pieces all over the floor. You then spend three hours putting it together to find that the cat has ran off with one of the pieces and now you need to take him to the vets because he has swallowed it, and you never did get to finish the puzzle you started all those hours ago!

There is another way though. Aqua Jigsaw from 99 Games makes the whole process easier while managing to keep intact the challenging aspects of putting the pieces together to form what will hopefully be a nice picture at the end of the process. The aqua theme is well recognised by a series of images categorised under fish, aqua life and aqua plants. There are 6 pictures in each section and you can choose how many pieces you want to tackle; from 4 to 24. This number seems about right for the iPhone screen because you would not be able to accurately tap each piece if they were any smaller. You can also choose traditional pieces or squares to rearrange and there are further settings for sound and for the animation. The animation is superb and every time you move a piece you will hear the sound of water and the background sways just like the real thing. It is a small touch, but one which adds some originality to the game.

I found myself playing it for a long time at first and the experience is a relaxing journey as you start to master each puzzle. The timer at the top adds an element of game play as you try to beat your best score and everything just seems to work as it should do. You can also use pictures from your camera roll and any other loaded pictures on the iPhone to turn into puzzles, and there is even a camera icon to take a quick picture and start puzzling it straight away.

Aqua Jigsaw is one of those games which suits the mobile platform well, and in particular the iPhone. It is good for an hour’s relaxing or for when you have 5 minutes spare and need some down time. It is a simple idea which has been built to perfection and will be staying on my iPhone for some time to come.

Available here for $0.99 / £0.59.