God of Light

Games using mirrors to bounce light around a maze have been around since the invention of mirrors. But God of Light may be the first title to make one obvious but interesting leap: what if the world was dark, and you had to illuminate it first to find your mirrors?

It seems a simple thing, but it's amazing how much it adds. This isn't just a puzzle about directing light to an endpoint, but one in which you have to work out where the hell the endpoint is.

This creates the opportunity for plenty of new tricks. Mirrors that tilt or slide, three gems in each puzzle to hit for a perfect score, gates to open, prisms, and a neat clue mechanic where you have to illuminate fireflies which you can then bring on screen to give you a tantalisingly brief glimpse of the solution.

You can pay real money for more fireflies if you want. And after you've spent an hour or so to reach the end of the first of three worlds, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find you've either got to get perfect scores on every level or pay up a second time to unlock the other two.

This feels crude, and unnecessary.

In terms of presentation God of Light is a mixed bag. The graphics are nice, if a little cutesy, but I was disappointed with the soundtrack from famed experimental techno act U.N.K.L.E. The group's raw, haunting powers of old seem far away compared with the plinky-plonky nu-age God of Light soundtrack.

Although the game breathes some new life into a relatively stale genre, it's a little easy, and a little short, at least until you unlock the remainder of the game. And that might leave you feeling short-changed and short-tempered when you come to the end of the initial levels.