Arena Swarm is a cheap little game of quick thinking, flashy lights and fun battles.
The concept behind swarm arena is amazingly simple: You are a small ball of light battling another ball of light. Within the arena are orbs that can give you "Drones", tiny critters that follow you devotedly and can be used for both defense and attack. To use your drones, you must acquire one of two powers: Shoot or Circulate.
The shoot ability allows you to, with the click of the left mouse button, launch your drones forward in whatever direction they happen to be facing. If you actually intend to hit anything, this requires you to move in rather odd ways trying to get your drones properly positioned. Circulate causes your drones to float around you in a more defensive manner. When you left click using the circulate ability, your drones move together in a manner akin to the tail of a hurricane sweeping across the land. Each power has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages. While shoot allows you to launch your drones far across the arena, leaving you safely out of harms way while having a chance at defeating your enemy, it also has far less defensive capability than that of the circulate ability, with which your drones are constantly surrounding you rather than just following. While the circulate ability can be used highly defensively, it still requires you to get up close and personal with your opponent to properly attack them, leaving you more open to attack. Both powers, as well as giving you the ability to attack, have an added bonus: they act as a buffer between you and death. If you have no power and get struck by an enemy drone, you die instantly. However, if you currently have one of the two abilities and get struck, you merely lose that ability (you can pick it up again via a floating orb around the arena, which randomly pops up). If you pick up the same more power than once, you increase the "level" of that power (up to level 3), making it more effective and causing your drones to be more responsive to your commands.
Gaining achievements unlocks various menu items and AIs in the game. You initially start with the "Teacher" AI, a weak AI designed to allow you to see how the game works, and can eventually work your way up to AIs such as "Genesis", the extreme difficulty AI, and "Pandora", the learning AI. Pandora learns from its fights with you, constantly correcting its strategies to become the best player that it can be, making Pandora the overall more interesting AI to battle with. It is also possible to pit AIs against each other, allowing Pandora to learn from the other AIs in order to make it a stronger opponent.
Lastly, multiplayer seems to be a large part of the game. You initially start off playing using the keyboard, but can switch the mouse if you so desire. The reason for this is to allow multiple players to use the same computer to battle each other. Online play allows for a more competitive field with the inclusion of a rated ladder system.
All together, this game tends to be one of those quick burst games that can keep you entertained for hours overall. Whether you play for 5 minutes at a shot or 5 hours, this game will offer enough enjoyment to make it worth the $10 price tag. If you are looking for something quick and enjoyable that doesn't take its toll on your system, give the demo for this game a try. You just might like it.