App of the Week - MultiPong

Platform: Apple iPad

Price: £1.59

Anyone under 25, skip straight to the next paragraph - it's got Lady Gaga in it! That's better, now I can reference Breakout on the Atari without youngsters tossing their floppy haircuts in disgust. Basically, this is Breakout all grown up: multitouch, multiplayer, multi-featured and with squeakily clean real world physics. But without any bricks.

Sorry, only kidding about Lady Gaga, but if any multiplayer iPad game is worth trimming your fluorescent finger nails for, it's MultiPong. This multi-player pinball game is as simple as it is addictive. Choose a number of players (from solo to four), pick a difficulty level (Baby to Flash) and start.

Each player defends one side of a cube against bouncing metal balls, trying to stop them sneaking past your slider. Naturally, there are many effects and power-ups to frustrate you: reversing your slider, bending or speeding up the gameplay, adding extra balls and the best one - a button that gradually inflates a ball until it fits almost the entire screen.

Solo play is fun, with bouncers and power-ups appearing in gradually tougher sequences. But it's in multiplay that game comes alive, handling four fingers and dozens of balls with liquid ease. Talking of which, MultiPong could be the perfect post-pub game - just remember that salt and vinegar crisp dust will seriously impede your high score aspirations.