Up until this point, the PlayStation Network lacked original games. Sure, the Gran Turismo HD pack was pretty sweet (especially considering it was free) and David Jaffe's Calling All Cars wasn't that bad. However, it lacked a "killer app" to lean on, similar to Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars for the Xbox 360. That changed with the release of Super Stardust HD.

Think of Housemarque's downloadable shooter as a souped-up version of the Atari classic Asteroids. Players skim a ship across the surface of five different planets, fending off the forces of an evil professor as he attempts to take over the universe. This results in blasting all kinds of rivals, including several insect-like robots, bomb-carrying vessels and large stage-ending bosses. In addition, they destroy bothersome asteroids; like in the classic game, large asteroids break apart into smaller chunks that become harder to evade.

The player's spaceship carries three weapons, along with a limited supply of bombs. Each weapon comes in handy for tearing apart certain asteroids. The "Gold Melter", for instance, works like a flame thrower, able to decimate golden rocks in a matter of seconds. The "Ice Splitter" chips away at light blue space rocks quite effectively. For routine asteroids, however, the "Rock Crusher" gets the job done the best. All of these weapons can be upgraded over the course of the game through power-ups. Points and bombs can also be grabbed, but the player should watch out when they're trying to fetch them: collision with an enemy or an asteroid means certain death, unless they managed to pick up a shield.

Gameplay becomes incredibly addictive in a hurry. The left analog stick controls movement around the planet in a 360-degree fashion, while the right analog stick controls direction of fire. The R1 button switches off between weapon types and the R2 button sets off a bomb. It keeps players active enough as the screen fills up with aggressive foes and meteors to shoot out of the quadrant.