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In which Demonware continue with their theme of releasing games with titles which are simply excuses to use remixes of songs by Number One pop stars Snap as soundtracks (and which also bear uncanny resemblances to other games). First came Ooops Up, a shameless Pang clone; now, there's The Power, an arcade puzzle game owing more than a little to Thalion's Atomix. Naughty old Demonware, but nobody's going to mind that much if they've managed to churn out a good game, so let's see if they have...

First, let's deal with that soundtrack. It's very excellent indeed. Right, that's that out of the way. Secondly, let's deal with the plagiarism aspect. There's no denying that this is a very similar game to Atomix, but it's just different enough to avoid accusations of a rip-off, largely because it's much more of a collect-'em-up than the earlier game, which had distinctly Boulder Dash-like elements to it. Thirdly, and lastly, let's deal with whether it's a good game or not. And yes, you have to say that it is, really. It's certainly been superbly programmed, although the control method could have been a little better thought out, and the scrolling backdrops are particularly nice.

There are tons of options too, so you can play the game the way that suits you best, and if that's not enough there's a level editor so you can make it as easy or as hard as you like. Passwords also make frequent appearances, so you shouldn't have too much of a problem getting stuck on a screen and having to trek through the previous ones to get to it all the time, especially considering you also get eight continues to play with.

Generally The Power is very well put together, but for some reason it didn't really grab me, and I didn't find I had any pressing desire to get to the next level (and I liked Atomix). I can't really put my finger on anything, it's technically very good, but The Power didn't do very much for me at all.

Beautifully done, but a tad awkward to play, and seriously derivative.