Another refugee from iOS and Android, but welcome all the same, Cold Space is a vertical space shoot-em-up with very high production values - and an icy freemium heart. Which is not to say that it's not fun for a quick blast, but most people wanting more than a few minutes of blasting will have to fork out using the in-game - and then real world - credits in order to carry on from the point where you're otherwise destroyed.

From the description in the Windows Phone Store:

3D Space Shoot’em Up for Smartphones and Tablets

Destroy the alien-armada in the infinite space before it reaches the earth!
Compete with other players in this science fiction shoot’em up and become the best pilot in the universe!

Cold Space awaits you:
• Numerous different enemies
• Constantly changing challenges in your league
• State of the art 3D graphics and sound effects
• Fierce boss battles
• Fantastic weapons, power-ups and drones
• Classic arcade action with impressive 3D visuals

Here's Cold Space in action, from title screen right up to the point where the developers want your money....(!)

Terrific visuals throughout, as you'd expect from a conversion from an iPhone and Android title, even if Windows Phone is six months behind (again)...

A rather odd Help screen, listing things with no way to select anything for more information - or perhaps these light up when they've been earned or bought? (right) Into the game proper, auto-fire is on by default and you just have to drag your craft around the screen, blasting everything that appears and collecting anything tasty.

Lighting and parallax effects impress, along with great sound, though gameplay gets quite hard quite quickly, with sneaky alien attacks from the bottom of the screen. A couple of minutes into the game your craft will have been hit enough to need refurbishment - you start with enough 'credits' for your first refurb and thereafter, you'll have to buy them....

...with real world money. For comparison, I estimate that £4.99 will give you enough credits for about fifteen minutes of gaming. So £20 an hour. Or spend £31 for 1000 credits and, quite possibly, two or three hours of non-stop gaming, perhaps spread over a week. Still sounds very expensive to me, compared to buying games once and for all, the 'traditional' way, where a £2.99 purchase would last a lifetime. Sigh....

You can detect my distaste for 'freemium' yet again, of course. Why can't I just BUY this game, outright, for a sensible price?

Comments welcome. In the meantime, you can download Cold Space here for free in the Store.