Well, “Neratte” means “Aim,” and “Chu” means, from what I can tell, either a kissing sound, insect, mouse, loyalty, middle, or corporal/capital punishment. I'm guessing in this context, it means “Mouse.” I thought “Neratte Chu” meant “Rat Kiss.”

Anyway. In “Rat Kiss,” you have to line up a bunch of pieces (differently-coloured mice (which at first I thought were hamsters), also rocks and cheese!) into an arrangement of four. Corners are fine, diagonals don't count. What makes this game interesting is that the pieces can be deployed anywhere on the game field, making exceptions for gravity of course. Move your crosshair around and hit the button, and your adorable little mouse will jump onto the edge of her spoon, thereby launching the ill-fated passenger into whatever position you wish. If you position the crosshair over an existing piece, it'll be knocked upwards to the top of its column, and replaced with the piece you just launched.

In a single-player “Snog the Rat” game, the object is to get a key from its starting position – usually at the top of a column - to the bottom of the screen, upon which you'll proceed to the next level. So this is more of a true “Puzzle” game in single-player mode, and less of the “Action Puzzler” we've come to know and love. Not terribly arcadey, though, and rather too easy, with most levels having a simple knack to complete them.

In its two-player mode, “Verminous Rodent Makeout” comes into its own. Attacks take the form of ice blocks, which – instead of seeming like a one-size-fits-all sleeper blocks, like in a lot of other puzzlers – actually tie in with the gameplay quite nicely. As usual, the ice blocks take over your normal pieces and turn them into sleepers, which can then be unfrozen by eliminating pieces adjacent to them. However, you can also smash the ice blocks directly by launching pieces at them. Some ice blocks will take one punch, some will take two - this will, of course, advance the column upwards by more pieces than you've eliminated, and when any column goes over the top, it's game over.

This is where “Go on, lick its little whiskers”'s one true flaw becomes apparent – since your attention is most often directed towards the bottom of the screen, it's very easy to lose track of what's happening up top, IE how close you are to losing. The “You're gonna lose!” music doesn't kick in until it's far too late, either. This game could be massively improved by making a column flash red when it's a couple of pieces from the top.

Having said that, “You know you're gonna get fuckin' rabies, don't you?” is a fantastic game when played with a friend, and absolutely adorable when enjoyed with a partner.

You haven't played a good puzzle game until you've bounced a mouse off a block of ice using a counterweighted spoon.