When we read the press release surrounding AtomHex and Escapist Games bold claim that their 80 Microsoft point fast paced shooter was better than Bizarre Creations Geometry Wars, we thought it was nothing more than to generate hype and controversy, but we were wrong. They were absolutely right! AtomHex is a visual wet dream of combining art styles of Jeff Minter (Tempest) and Tetsuyu Mizuguchi (Rez) melded with Mark Incitti’s own personal touch. This game isn’t just good, it’s fucking awesome!

AtomHex is an extremely colourful, fast shooter where you pilot your ship through a top down landscape of atoms and hexes. When atoms combine with hex’s they produce enemies that are out to destroy your craft, but these enemies are resistant to certain coloured ammo, so you need to pick up different hexes to kill your foe. This presents an insane amount of strategic scope unfound in games like Geometry Wars or classics like Robotron. It’s a visual feast that can get quite hectic but once you are in the zone this game opens up and naturally you are shooting off-spawn enemies and delving into ridiculous multiply and weapon upgrade heaven. Depending on how your run is going you’ll come across a wave of bigger objects which you need to deflect away from your craft for a period of time, before the game settles back into its visual sparkle and frenetic action.

Escapist Games have without doubt created a masterpiece here and have seemingly overcome the limitation of no achievement points by adding in their own, albeit not actually counting to your total G score. The menus are presented extremely well with your gamer picture featuring when you load up your profile and the help guide is a welcomed addition to settle into the game and rack up the truly high scores you will be destined for. The achievements were a little easy to unlock, 6/10 in the first run through. But it’s something Escapist Games can certainly address by planning a build update. The only thing stopping this game from absolute perfection is an online leader board, implement this and we possibly have one of the best value for money games ever made.

Those that have been teetering upon buying Geometry Wars or even going back to some classic top down shooters of the past need not bother. AtomHex has all those departments covered, from the quality build to the inventive game play in all honesty these guys are selling themselves short on Indie Games. With ideas floating around like this from the brainchild Incitti we could be seeing even more jaw dropping material from Escapist Games in the future.