Ok, a pretty basic looking developer website, an empty forum and not even a buy button? A game that's obviously a Geometry Wars clone without the impressive visuals. Yep, I'll pass. I never was a great fan of GW, it was pretty, but seemed a little mindless. I don't have my Xbox360 game pad plugged in and the WASD plus mouse controls don't feel very nice. Yes, I'll just stick with a "pass" and then I can get back to Space Invaders Extreme.

...

Oh, all right. I'll dig out my X360 pad and have a proper go. Hang on a minute; this isn't like GW at all! It's all about the score multipliers and controlling what types of enemies are spawning. This is actually a really strategic shooter and I need to be really selective about what I kill. Let me just read those help screens for the third time so I can get this straight. So I need to collect hexes of the same colour, stop too many atoms multiplying while keeping on top of the bee and weed population. Right, I've got it now; my scores are coming up nicely. I'll just upload them to the developers website. What! I can't upload anything until I unlock 25 achievements! Is he joking? Alt-F4. I'll show him, a nice "pass" on the bottom there.

...

Hmm, let's just have a look exactly what these achievements are, maybe they're not too hard. Ok, I'll have one more go. [2 hours pass] Woo, I'm on the high score table, I did it! This game is great, these achievements actually mean something, they're a real challenge and only players with decent skill get a chance of appearing on the high score table.

Anyway, back to the review. I better try and explain how this game works. Anyone who's played GW will feel at home here. It has the same arena layout and twin analogue stick controls. However, you have to understand how the game's enemies and multipliers work to have a hope of unlocking those achievements and getting on the high score table. I'll try and explain. Stay with me.

Initially your ship sits in an empty single screen arena. One stick moves the ship, the other fires in any direction. Slowly, little grey atoms and coloured hexes start to appear. You can kill the atoms with just one shot. The hexes have a little shield so it takes a few shots to expose them and then you have to actually fly over them to collect them. Atoms and hexes in this "new born" state can be collided with and pushed around with no penalty. Once you pick up a colored hex your bullets take on the same color. Collecting hexes in sequence starts a "run" and a tally is kept of each color. This is critical to increasing your multiplier. If you don't kill all the little grey atoms quickly then strange things start to happen. If two atoms collide they spawn a single scorpion creature called a Karkata, which comes straight at you. If it hits you it steals some of your energy and you cannot fire for a while. Then it will create a little web-like barrier, which has to be shot at to get rid of it. Karkatas are tricky to kill, as they are only vulnerable in their back and sides, so some frantic circling is needed.

Atoms are attracted to shielded hexes and when they attach the shield energizes and you cannot kill it unless your shots match the color. With each atom the hex grows (like a molecule) and it starts to release different enemies. The more atoms on the hex the more enemies it releases.

Hex plus one atom – hex starts to create "pods" which float around and get in the way. Once a pod is pollinated the pod starts to grow a slowly spreading green fungus that wafts around and gets in the way.

Hex plus two atoms – hex releases two Vespas (these look suspiciously like bees), which flutter around looking for an unshielded hex to eat. Once they've eaten they seek out the nearest pod and pollinate it.

Hex plus three atoms – hex releases three mines, which fly towards you and then each one splits into three smaller mines forming a cloud of obstacles.

Hex plus four atoms – hex releases four Crux, these floating turrets alternate between shooting you with freeze bullets that slow you down and firing out vertical and horizontal screen filling energy bars that can destroy you.

Hex plus five atoms – hex releases five mines, these ones fly around quite fast and in random directions before each one splits into five smaller mines.

Hex plus six atoms – hex morphs into an Atomhex and pulls you into the subatomic game mode. Everything vanishes apart from you and the Atomhex. Now the atoms are bigger and circle around the hex at high speed. Each atom has three Quarks in it and each quark contains petals in each of the six game colors. This time you can change colour by shooting the hex core and you need to constantly match the petal colors to get rid of the quarks. If you escape it's back to normal in the main game.

You'll also have to be on the look out for power ups, which are also essential to getting that high score. There are extra ships, freeze bombs, triple shots, spread shots, shields, bombs, fast shots and rainbow color shots.

- phew -

That's it, that's all there is, but these elements combine to give some excellent emergent game play. The problem is that when you try to get a run of red, for example, you're forced to leave all the other coloured hexes alone. In fact you'll actively avoid them. If you can't keep on top of the atoms you'll start to get scorpions hassling you and hexes growing and releasing enemies. It turns into a strange management game, almost like some kind of crazy gardening simulator. You're trying to keep the atoms down while focusing on collecting red hexes, but now and again you need to break off and prune the pod fungus back. For maximum scores you'll want to let one hex grow, in fact you'll help out by pushing atoms over to it. Yes, it will try to kill you, but that's just its way. Once you've got it fully grown you can use the Atomhex it forms to get the high scoring subatomic mini game.

Sooner or later you'll make a mistake and let too many hexes grow and then death follows swiftly. As you lose each life the game restarts, but the rate that hexes and atoms release accelerates. So you tend to get a high score on the first life and then diminishing scores on subsequent lives. There aren't new levels or bosses or anything like that, but if you let the high score drug take hold then the replay value is quite high.

Interestingly the developer started out with a direct Geometry Wars clone, the popular Grid Wars. In fact he had the dubious pleasure of receiving a polite "take it down" letter from Bizarre Creations the developers of GW. What better way to come back than with a completely new take on the GW/Robotron genre that in my book is much better.

Graphics:
They actually work very well, they are clear and colorful. Sadly, after being spoiled by Geometry Wars it just seems a bit unimpressive.

Sound:
The music I found very annoying, but the sound effects are perfect and fit in with the game's eerie biological theme.

Game play:
The best fun I've had with my X360 pad in a long time, better than Geometry Wars in my book. Reminds me of lamatron / Robotron.

Value:
Short, but intense fun. It'll last as long as your hunger for a better high score position on the website. It's a shame there aren't other game modes with new themes of inter-related enemies. Still, the developer lets you pay either $20, $15, $10 or $5, it's your choice.

Concept:
He's created a shooter that requires strategic thought without getting in the way of the action, very clever.

Fun:
You'll either scratch your head and dismiss it or you'll get hooked on the high score multipliers. If you're hooked then the fun comes in spades.

Overall:
I suspect many will look at the graphics and the complex hex/atom/enemy relationships and just pass (hence the empty forum). This would be a shame. Stick with it and you'll find one of the best, if briefest shooters of the year so far.