Review: Geon: Emotions (XBLA)

Geon: Emotions is a fun and challenging game that is perfectly suited to Xbox Live Arcade.

For: Looks good; fun game concept; cool grids
Against: More fun online; some grids are difficult to navigate

‘Geon: Emotions’ has the potential to be one of those XBLA games that appears, you try once and and move on. That would be a real pitt because it is actually a fun and challenging game that is perfectly suited to the Arcade. The easiest way to describe it is a combination of Pac-Man and Marble-Blast’s competitive mode.

You control a cube on a 3d grid. The object of the game is collect enough pills on your side of the grid to become “full” and then score a goal. To score the goal, you flip the grid over onto your opponents side and make your way to the centre, before your opponent uses any collectable power-ups to inflict damage on you - knocking some of your pills out and sending you back to your grid to collect more.

The twist is provided in the emotions mechanic. You can play as a cube representing certain emotions: envy, anger, bliss etc. The collectable power-ups are also emotion based, and using matched emotions doubles the effect. This feature introduces an additional layer of strategy such that you select an emotion and power up combo that suits your game-play tactics.

The presentation of Geon: Emotions is excellent, with suitably vivid colours and nice visual and audio effects.
The game has a number of puzzle and challenge modes as well as competitive online, which is where the game really shines.

If you enjoyed Marble Blast or Pac-Man Championship edition (another brilliant game overlooked) then I can highly recommend Geon: Emotions as a game that you will enjoy both on and off-line.

7/10