Stellar Escape

On the face of it, Orange Agenda's Stellar Escape is just another endless runner game.

Your little guy jogs steadily from left to right, dodging the obstacles blocking his way, much like every other game since Canabalt popularised the concept.

Most Canabalt clones try to stand out in some way, whether by giving the action a makeover (Lame Castle) or by doing something more radical like changing the perspective (Speed X 3D).

Stellar Escape turns the idea into a game of Simon Says, where instead of Canabalt's one button there are five.

The wafer-thin comedy backstory casts you as a courier trying to escape through a space station with a super-villain's master plan.

Despite the flimsy setup, Stellar Escape is a very polished piece of work, with some fairly pretty art design, powered by the Unity graphics engine.

While the futuristic corridors full of crates, forcefields, and suchlike don't really have the same effect as Canabalt's crumbling skyscrapers and invading aliens, they're still very smartly put together and arguably much easier on the eye.

Again, you have five moves, all of which match at least one specific obstacle, though there are also moving barriers you may need to duck or hurdle depending on your speed.

The main question this raises is whether making a simple idea that much more complicated was really a smart decision.

Stellar Escape is certainly a solid, playable game, but it runs at such a pace with so many things to keep track of that you'll definitely find yourself stabbing at the wrong button multiple times, convinced there's no way that last death was your fault.

If you're still a fan of the genre, and want one of these games you have to concentrate on rather than spend a few minutes playing on the bus, Stellar Escape should be worth a shot.

Less committed runners should look elsewhere.