Among the games on display during Sony's PS3 preview event in San Francisco was Blast Factor, one of the first titles to be available exclusively through the PS3's online service. Pitting the player against malignant microbes at the cellular level, the game plays exactly how it looks: like a cell-themed version of Geometry Wars or Mutant Storm. As a little robot-looking thing, you'll bounce around in a two-dimensional, six-sided Petri dish, blasting in any direction you point the Sixaxis pad's right thumbstick at. Occasionally you'll get power-ups for your cannon, but the goal remains the same: fight off waves of what look like blood cells and cancerous polyps, clear the dish and move on to the next one.

While our time with the game was short, we did get to see Blast Factor pull out a few cool flourishes. First off, you'll be able to violently tilt the Petri dish by quickly tilting the controller, which washes everything to the left or right. Not only is this useful in pushing things away from you, it's also instrumental in defeating armored enemies that need to be flipped over before they're vulnerable. It's a cool feature, so long as you don't accidentally tilt the dish in the wrong direction.

You'll also be able to unleash blasts that not only shove nearby enemies away, but briefly slow down time. It's useful when you're in a tight scrape, and it also has a more practical application: when the ring of force that ripples out from you hits certain enemies, they'll temporarily turn black and vulnerable, enabling you to paste them with your blasters.

Blast Factor isn't a terrifically complex game, but it was fun. If the PS3's oh-so-complex launch games leave you craving something cheap and simple, this looks like a sure bet.