12 cert, Microsoft Studios/ Starfire Studios, Xbox Live ***

Fusion: Genesis, a retro top-down, multidirectional 2D shooter, drops you right into an archetypal (if clichéd) sc-fi story. Piloting a spaceship, you can choose from six factions. Whether you're a miner, a mercenary or a military loyalist, you're given main story duties, and a variety of side missions (searching for missing ships, mining, and so on). Like many games of its kind, one thumb-stick steers while the other fires a weapon. There are also multiplayer options. After a slow start, Fusion: Genesisemerges as a beguiling game. I wish the firing was a little sharper, and some tasks are inevitably more fun than others; one character admits mining (which involves floating next to appropriate rocks) can be boring. First-time developers Starfire Studios have packed a lot into the game, though and Fusion: Genesisis a promising debut.