Anyway, let’s get on and tell you how it plays. There’s a feeling of something missing and I just can’t seem to put my finger onto one specific area. One such possibility could be this; there may well be tension from playing against an opponent, but there just seems to be a lack of speed in what you do, even with the power ball pickups. These only last for a limited period of time or for as long as you hold onto one, but if you are running about with an empty cube, it’s almost as if you’re rolling about in glue. I’ve always been a firm believer, as some of you may know, of simple games being some of the best. Take the almost obvious comparison to games like Geometry Wars, or in the PSN’s case, Blast Factor. These two have not only a basic infrastructure, but they have the speed and agility to pull it off with great aplomb. You just don’t get it here with GEON, sadly.

Another niggle for me came from the control system. It didn’t quite have the responsiveness I was looking for. There were some moments I had to slow myself down to a standstill and move quite intricately when it shouldn’t be the case. Just a slight tweak would have seen the problem simply disappear.

Online there are multiple options. You can pair up with a friend for team GEON, have a duel or take part in last man standing. All of these modes are available as split screen too. Now, I did try to play this online, but couldn’t find a game or create one, so I can’t really report on it and would deem it unfair to mark it down for this, but at least it’s offering a decent amount of net based opportunity to play against other people, which is always good.

GEON is a bit like a cover version of a popular song or an own brand cola. There will be times where you don’t mind the difference, but most of the time you’d rather go for what you like. It’s the same here, with the game offering something playable, but not necessarily something you’d play time and time again. In answer to the question set at the start, I don’t think it’s done enough to make itself stand out from the crowd. Some extra modes like trying to collect all the pellets within a time limit or a two-player highest collection score wins could have swayed luck in its favour. As it stands, Strawdog have given us a title which shows its heart is in the right place, but with just a little extra care and attention to some of the more key elements it could have stood out. Sadly, it’s just another face in the crowd.