It's called Stalin vs. Martians.

That's the review in a nutshell. The name tells you all you need to know about this utterly barmy and impossibly stupid strategy game, from which the "strategy" bit seems to have been left out. You select legions of Soviet troops, then click like great heck on the endless stream of alien foes until they die in a big explosion of ridiculousness. There is no strategy. There is just charging and hoping.

It should be rubbish. It is rubbish. It looks awful, there's absolutely no variety and the gameplay is as mundane as it gets. Its sense of humour is childish, the AI bugged and broken.

But it's kind of impossible to hate. It's all so cheeky, irreverant and knowing. It's a hugely self-aware game, and you get the constant impression that its trio of developers understand exactly how awful it is, and that we're all in on the joke together. No other game, for example, is ever going to cut to an intermission in which Josef Stalin dances to drum and bass music. No other piece of entertainment is ever likely to feature the line "I am a Bolshevik on a bicycle."

When you're actually parting with money for such a thing, the wacky humour and sly parody will only carry it so far. But you can't hate this game. I mean, it's called Stalin vs. Martians. What's not to love?