Since Geometry Wars remains one of the most popular games on Xbox Live Arcade, I feel a math equation is appropriate here:

Pac-Man + Geometry Wars = a game that came out 18 years before Geometry Wars and originally played nothing like it. The first of the three Crystal games, Crystal Quest, has been revamped for the Xbox Live Arcade (which is more than some other retro games can say), but with stiff competition from a slew of other dual-stick games where one stick moves your on-screen counterpart and the other directs the shots, Crystal Quest has a bit of trouble keeping up even with the addition of the ability to fire in any direction with the right analog stick.

If you're curious about the origins of this game, and why the retro mode is so freaking bright and colourful, it was the very first game to support colour displays for the Apple Macintosh back in 1987. Written by Patrick Buckland (who is involved with this true-to-the-original remake), you play as a small crystal ball and fly around a large squared space collecting small gems around the screen and then heading through a gate, which only opens when that task is complete. As you advance through the levels, the gameplay not only gets faster, but you'll run into randomised obstacles, the gems increase in huge numbers and enemies begin to attack you after being unleashed from portals on both sides of the screen.

Your crystal ball is armed with the ability to shoot by using the right analogue stick, so you can take out most of the enemies or use a smartbomb to eliminate all foes and mines on the screen. And unlike the original mode, using a smartbomb does not induce a seizure! One of the best parts of this game is the variety in the small enemies that come into the field; some simply float around and get in your way, others attack you with shots that dissipate or continually rebound, and there's even a couple that lay as many mines as possible, or won't even attack you until you destroy them, exploding into a cluster of spikes that speed off in every direction.

A nice feature that Crystal Quest does have over a lot of other similar games (and there are plenty) is a difficulty setting. The game is pretty easy on the default setting, but extremely challenging on the harder setting; this is great for gamers that just don't have the knack for this sort of title but would like to enjoy it anyway, something they can't do with Geometry Wars or Robotron 2084. The game quickly gets very hard around the tenth level on this setting, where mines become a huge problem and your crystal explodes instantly upon any contact - something that does not happen on the default difficulty.

However, something it does not have over Geometry Wars is graphics. Unlike Geometry Wars, which takes advantage of a very smooth framerate with great particle effects, Crystal Quest looks very plain, and despite being rebuilt for the 360, doesn't quite look like a 360 arcade game should. It has some nice vivid colours in it, and a good border for those with HDTV to enjoy, but nothing will jump out at you. If your sound is only at medium volume, as mine is most of the time with arcade titles, the only sound effect you're likely to hear is the noise the game makes when you fire with the right analog stick. The rest of the effects work, but aren't what you'd expect for the action you're performing, being simple and plain. The music is in the same style of AstroPop, which isn't exactly a good thing, as the entire game is made up of one single loop that repeats over and over... and over.

The retro mode is exactly as you'd expect; if you've never played it before, you'll see a lot of things that inspired this remake and a lot of things the remake has that the original doesn't (such as the ability to fire at enemies in any direction - the original only allowed you to fire in the direction you were travelling, making the game much harder.) However, I'm warning you now, since this was the first game to use colour on the Mac, it is very bright, especially if you're using component cables on your setup. You also can't earn achievements in this mode, so it's here mainly for nostalgic and historical value. It is neat seeing the fantastic new enemy designs compared to their original counterparts though!

The achievements in Crystal Quest are generally very easy to obtain. 10,000,000 points seems like a lot at first, but putting the game on hard allows you to get it within the first few levels. Finishing wave 60 is something you can do on your second or third run-through of the game, avoiding mines for 20 levels is easy on the default settings, as is getting 1,000,000 points without dying (especially easy on the hard setting.) It's also simple to get that amount of points without using a smartbomb, which in turn leads to having 30 smartbombs in hand at anytime. The harder achievements include zapping 20 enemies at once and collecting 30 bonus crystals in one game, but with a little effort they're easily obtained.

The difficulty settings, responsive controls and some nice visual download content to boot make Crystal Quest stand out from a slew of other dual-stick control games and I'd recommend it over SmashTV or Robotron 2084 in a second, but it isn't quite up there with Geometry Wars. However, if you're a fan of these types of games and have burnt out your copy of GW, I'd definitely recommend this game to you; just be sure to put it on the hard difficulty, as you can really get sick of it on the moderately easy default setting, especially in the slow early levels. Not a great arcade title for the 360, but it is a good one and there are much worse ways to spend 400 Microsoft points, especially if you're just looking for achievements. Buy it during the next drought when there aren't any new games coming, but for now save your points for something that doesn't involve travelling with the left stick and firing with the right! Like The superb Cloning Clyde, for example…

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).