For most people this game is not what you’d call a “safe” purchase. This is a niche title one with a low fun factor aimed at those who enjoy hard puzzles and atmosphere over raw spectacle and nonstop thrills. There’s no getting away from the fact that Affordable Space Adventures is a dry experience overall. Indeed, being happy with such a well-meaning game is easy to an extent, but it’s still one that’s made to please a particular type of player. Affordable Space Adventures even indulges in a bit of fourth wall trickery towards the end of its run, though fortunately it’s done with enough restraint and good taste to send players away happy. The levels here are more than just tombs waiting to be ransacked, they are locations full of nothing but mystery and players who look close enough may notice the hints of a deeper story. Collectibles aren’t the sort of thing you would normally see in a puzzle game, granted, but it’s still a smart omission that makes exploration in this atmospheric world feel more organic. You spend a lot of time with your head down and it can be tough to juggle all of those systems when playing solo.Īnother aspect worth mentioning is the complete lack of collectibles. Like all good cooperative modes, communication is key to victory and it’s a facet that leads to many of the game’s loudest triumphs and hilarious failures.ĪSA feels like it would only be possible on Wii U, but so too does the Gamepad present unique problems. The role of science officer is arguably a bit dull in comparison to the other two, but playing with others is still highly entertaining. One person becomes the pilot-using a Wii Remote or Pro Controller to steer the ship one person is the science officer-they also use a Wii Remote or joypad to operate the scanner and one person assumes the role of engineer-operating all of the ship’s key systems and parameters from the Wii U Gamepad itself. The main selling point of Affordable Space Adventures is its local cooperative gameplay that supports up to three players (a genuine rarity). A superb ambient soundtrack contributes to this ominous atmosphere a world where your miniature craft can be blasted, frozen, or otherwise scrubbed from existence at a moment’s notice. Don’t let those peppy interludes fool you though this game is pretty spooky for the most part and you can never be quite certain of what lurks around the next corner. Stylistically speaking, Affordable Space Adventures is reminiscent of Disney’s WALL-E and it’s an influence you can see in both the loading screen visuals and the tongue-in-cheek cutscenes. This is a slow game to get started too and even though levels are short enough to make progress feel satisfying, the loading screens between them are just long enough to be irritating. The Small Craft’s systems are gradually brought online as the game progresses (so as not to overwhelm you from the offset), but the haphazard signposting still makes it difficult to remember how those systems interact with each other. The learning curve is unpleasantly steep in the beginning though as it doesn’t take long for the early puzzles to ramp up in terms of complexity. The Gamepad’s gyroscope can be used to tilt the ship and allow you to squeeze through narrow gaps. Affordable Space Adventures is refreshingly difficult in this regard and there’s no doubting the immense satisfaction that you feel when overcoming one of the game’s 38 different levels. If your craft is running too hot or too loud for instance, then the trap will be triggered and you can bet that you’ll be reloading a checkpoint shortly after.įrom blown fuses to reactor shutdowns, the number of challenges you must contend with are almost endless. Turrets, mines, and sentry robots are on the prowl and each one has a detection radius that measures the output of your ship as it passes by. This is all well and good, but many automated defence drones call Spectaculon home and they won’t hesitate to attack once they detect you. Using the Wii U Gamepad as a Head-down-Display, you’ll regulate the thrusters, antigravity, landing gear, and the many miscellaneous systems that will help you stay mobile. Players take control of a miniature spaceship called the Small Craft and must navigate the many treacherous caverns of Planet Spectaculon on the world’s most dangerous package holiday. Affordable Space Adventures is the fruits of their labour a physics-based puzzler with elements of exploration and stealth thrown in for good measure. Enter KnapNok Games and Nifflas’ Games an alliance of European developers determined to really make something of Nintendo’s curious gadget. The riddle of the Wii U Gamepad has scared away many a video game developer in its time, so much so that certain companies are actually teaming up in an effort to crack it.
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