Nitrome couldn't lick the habit, and now those scowling frozen treats are back for more arcade action in Bad Ice-Cream 2, where you and your favourite flavour endeavour to nab all the fruits on a stage full of enemies, ice, and more.

Move with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys, and spit out or smash ice with the [spacebar]. The bar at the bottom of the screen shows the fruit you'll need to chomp before the level ends, and if there's more than one kind left, eating all of one will cause the other to spawn. While getting hit by an enemy is a bad idea, you can block their path by spitting out ice-cubes or bashing your way through some blockades. So far so simple, right? Well, what if I told you that some fruit will run away with you? Or some tiles will cause you to move too fast? Or that some enemies are smart enough to bash through your blockades to come after you? Yeah, what then, smart guy? And you thought being a sentient cone of sweetened dairy was just another walk in the park.

Don't worry about the clock in the corner... that's just there to decide how many bonus points you get for completing a level quickly, and you really should take your time here. Particularly because this is one silly, surreal, and gorgeous little game. Levels are vibrant and colourful, while enemies are wonderfully weird in design. While the gameplay is still essentially the same as you remember from before, the new tiles add a nice touch of variety, and it's always nice to encounter an arcade game where it feels like you need to do a bit of planning and puzzling to succeed. The randomly moving fruit is still a bit of an annoyance, especially since it feels like it's less about skill and more about chance where they're concerned. But with 40 all-new levels and the sort of compulsively playable arcade action that's perfect for a coffee (or an ice-cream) break all wrapped up in Nitrome's signature style, Bad Ice-Cream 2 is still a sweet treat no matter how hard the stars may try to look thuggish.

Play Bad Ice-Cream 2