In Geon Emotions, developer Strawdog Studios has you take the role of an “emotions” cube with the job of gathering up dots scattered throughout the game board. The game is quirky but fun and it’s commendable to see Eidos taking a chance publishing a risky (different) title like this. I heard the game was originally intended for the PSP as a full retail release but ended up Live Arcade Title instead.

Gameplay:

In many ways the game plays like Pac Man on crack, except on the reverse side of your Pac Man board there is ANOTHER person playing the same game as you are. It’s a race between player cubes to gather up all the dots on their respective sides of the game board. Once a player has filled up their “emote metre” he or she must rush to the side of the game board and press X to “flip over” to their opponents side of the board. Once on the enemies side there is a goal in the centre that will score the player a point … if he or she makes it. Matches go to 5 points, with the first player to reach 5 the victor. The game can get extremely competitive, as there are powerups scattered throughout each player’s game board which can help you in your quest to gather dots, but can also harm your opponent. The “Jump Bash” powerup, for example, allows you to pound the board causing your opponent to lose all the dots he or she has gathered in his or her emotion metre. Another Powerup called “Vortex” allows you to scoop in extra dots as you pass by. Some Powerups create traps for your opponent to fall into … perfect for choke points on the game board. You can even combine powerups to create even more deadly traps for your opponent. The powerups really change the pace of the game making it a frantic race of grabbing dots while trying to screw over your opponent at the same time, or avoid being screwed. Each cube (emotion) has a powerup that it can use better than the others, and this can make a big difference. The Single player portion of the game offers a duel mode (same as multiplayer duel but versus an AI Bot instead) and Time Attack. In Time Attack you race against the clock to finish each map within certain time restrictions, while the AI does it’s best to prevent you from accomplishing this goal. There are bronze, silver and gold medals awarded based on your time completions.

Graphics:

At first glance Geon: Emotions seems to be a psychedelic kaleidoscope of colours … but after about 10 minutes of game play one realizes the game is pretty easy to catch onto despite the bright somewhat confusing colours. My biggest problem with the graphics was that there wasn’t really any indicator aside from colour to show what each powerup’s function is. Often I would pick up powerups with no idea of their function even after playing the game for a decent amount of time. My multiplayer opponent assured me that with more time it would become second nature, however I found myself frustrated with the initial lack of intuitiveness. Aside from this one complaint, the graphics suit the game’s style nicely and represent something very different from “the norm”.

Sound:

Not much to say. The music in the title is upbeat and somewhat catchy, however it is limited. It does the job and with Live Arcade titles that’s usually enough.

Longevity:

There are a total of 32 two player duel maps and 4 four player duel maps. The game also offers 8 unlockable mini games based on your single player progress in the Time Attack Mode. Multiplayer is where the game is currently hurting. Despite excellent Live options that include both regular one on one matches as well as two on two, game modes such as duel and Last Man Standing, despite all of this I found there to be absolutely nobody online to play against. I tried at different time slots both ranked and player matches but there was not a soul to be found. If it were not for a friend from one of the forums I frequent (thanks Samphis!), I’m not even sure I would have been able to review the game properly. The saving grace is that the game does support split screen multiplayer, so if you have some real life friends and some extra controllers this might be an option for some of you out there. All in all Longevity wise the game is a mixed bag. There is a decent amount of single player content to keep you busy but in my opinion the true fun of the title is the multiplayer … the lack of Live players hurts the game.

Overall:

I’ll be very honest … I initially hated the game based on my experience with the demo. The demo is single player and split screen only and this left a really bad impression. I didn’t have a friend to play against, I didn’t understand what was going on, I didn’t see the point of the game, and with Halo 3 a week away I didn’t have the patience to learn. I don’t think I was alone in this assessment given there are barely 5000 or so ranked players. If there was a multiplayer demo I think things would have gone very differently … this truly is one of those titles that shines once you are pitted against a flesh and blood opponent. After playing the full title more in depth I’m happy to say there is definitely some serious substance to the title … is it worth 800 MS points however? While there is loads of content to be had, and the multiplayer competition of the game is top notch once both players know what they are doing, I still feel 800 points is a bit much considering how few opponents there are to play against over Live. I think Geon: Emotions is one of those games that you really need to play for a bit to understand and enjoy. Given the time and I think folks could come to appreciate this quirky Xbox Live Arcade title … it’s unfortunate that being released so close to Halo 3 many have chosen to pass on it. Perhaps Geon will get a second chance at life come a future Xbox Live Arcade title sale that MS has started doing periodically. At 800 points it’s worth a look, at 400 points it would be a no brainer.