Don’t listen to those egghead astrophysicists who tell you that the cosmos is full of wondrous marvels. One thing I learned from video games years ago is that space is only filled with hideous creatures, perilous worlds and weapon upgrades. “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” reinforces these lessons constantly as it follows the formula for exploration popularized by “Metroid” and carried on by the likes of “Castlevania” and “Shadow Complex.”

Guiding a tiny spacecraft through nightmarish passages, you gain new tools, blast through hostile alien life, and uncover a sprawling map. I loved observing the bizarre areas and enemies, and the confrontations with the huge bosses are intense and entertaining. The team at Fuel Cell nails these fundamentals, and the fascinating art direction keeps the adventure stylish from beginning to end. Don’t be fooled by the fact that this is a downloadable title; beating the game will take at least a few hours, and even more if you’re driven to uncover the entire map.

While the game gets the basics right, it stumbles on delivering a satisfying sense of progression. The weapons like the buzzsaw and telekinetic beam are unconventional and interesting, but most of these accessories function primarily as keys to open particular doors. You need missiles to open gates blocking parts of the map, lightning to open others, and so forth. They also have combat applications, but most of the weapons feel like pegs designed to fit into specific holes. Even if your ship is packed with weapons, they don’t make you feel powerful because they don’t stack or work together:You always use them independently.

This segregation of weaponry wouldn’t be a problem if they improved along the way. Apart from your shields and main gun, however, none of your abilities can be upgraded. Your buzzsaw never gets stronger, or bigger, or longer, and you won’t find any mobility powers that improve your ability to navigate the environment. This also means that shield and gun upgrades are the only worthwhile trinkets to seek out on the map, though you can go out of your way to collect a bunch of concept art highlighting the striking visuals.

I don’t mean to imply that “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” isn’t fun or well-made, but it isn’t as full-bodied an experience as exploring Zebes or Dracula’s castle. I wanted more goals to pursue, and more ways to showcase my growing power. In the absence of another great game in the vein of “Super Metroid” or “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,” “ITSP” deftly scratches the itch that many gamers have for this breed of 2-D exploration and combat. It’s worth playing for any fan of the genre, but it isn’t the brightest star in the sky.

‘Insanely twisted Shadow Planet’

8 (out of 10)

Xbox 360

Microsoft Game Studios, Fuel Cell Games

ESRB rating: E for Everyone

Top 10

DOWNLOADS

The editors of Game Informer Magazine rank the top 10 downloadable games for August:

1. “Bastion” (X360)

2. “From Dust” (X360, PC)

3. “Ms. Splosion Man” (X360)

4. “Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation Map Pack” (X360, PS3, PC)

5. “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” (X360)

6. “Limbo” (PS3, X360, PC)

7. “Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax” (X360)

8. “Dragon Age II: Legacy” (PS3, X360, PC)

9. “The Adventures of Shuggy” (X360)

10. “Trenched” (X360)

— McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Weekly download

‘Fruit Ninja Kinect’

For: Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade, Kinect required)

From: Halfbrick Studios

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Price: $10

It took nine months for Kinect to get Xbox Live Arcade representation, but the first game it gets is, while not overly adventurous, a perfect fit. “Fruit Ninja Kinect” migrates the massively popular mobile game (and somewhat obscure arcade port) to Kinect, and it’s exactly what you expect: Instead of swiping your finger across a tiny screen, you’re viciously chopping the air to slice fruit as it flies into view all around you. If that sounds mindless, bite your tongue: There’s a science to maximizing your score by slicing three or more fruits in one chop without hitting fatal bombs or letting stray fruit drop, and “FNK’s” multiple modes — Classic, a bombs-free Zen mode, an Arcade mode laden with powerups and score multipliers, a Challenge mode that shuffles all three — each utilize that science in maddeningly addictive ways. The short length per game — a minute to 90 seconds, typically — makes it easy to keep replaying for better scores, and all those replays add up to a much better workout than the mobile game can provide. As with all Kinect games, “FNK” occasionally misreads a motion, but the slip-ups are surprisingly infrequent considering the chaos.

— Billy O’Keefe, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

New game releases

The following titles were scheduled for release the week of Aug. 21:

• “Toy Soldiers: Cold War” (X360)

• “Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death” (PSP)

• “Puzzler World 2” (DS)

• “Junior Mystery Stories” (DS)

• “Jerry Rice and Nitus’ Dog Football” (Wii, PC)

• “Get Up Family Game Sports” (Wii)

• “No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise” (PS3)

• “El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron” (X360, PS3)

• “Junior Island Adventure” (DS)

• “Junior Mystery Quest” (DS)

— Gamespot.com