geoSpark

To say that geoSpark bears an uncanny resemblance to an extremely popular Xbox Live Arcade darling that also starts with 'Geo' is to put it lightly. Thankfully, the similarity begins and ends with the game's looks as geoSpark sports a reasonably unique play mechanic that it has every right to call its own.

The game loads in an instant after it's booted up, side-stepping any logo screens and dumping the player straight into the sparkly luminescent thick of it after a single click.

It's an almost abrupt beginning, but after a few rounds with this incredibly addictive little number, you'll be glad of its no-nonsense personality.

The gameplay is simple. On a black screen with a fine blue grid, different coloured glowing shapes creep in from from the edges.

Touching one of them causes it to explode. Tapping and holding on one shape and then dragging it so that it collides with a shape of the same type nets you a score multiplier. The aim is to ensure that no two different shapes ever collide.

Besides point multipliers, bombs that clear the screen and other power-ups you can tap, there's literally nothing else to geoSpark. Yet it manages to inspire some retina burning gameplay that is both frantic and satisfying.

The balance is always between dragging shapes to score multipliers at and making sure the shapes that increasingly fill the screen don't collide.

And therein lies the game's most glaring flaw. Though the incredible high-scores on integrated OpenFeint leaderboards suggest geoSpark already has a legion of patient, nimble-fingered fans, the addition of a three lives and you're out system would go some way towards reducing frustration levels.

As it is, getting within a few points of your personal best only to be shunted right back to the start is a common and unjustly punitive occurrence.

Nevertheless, geoSpark is fun, and though its presentation borders on theft it's an undeniably attractive title. Just don't expect to be able to compete on the leaderboards without a heroic measure of patience.