Remember all the buzz around fl0w? Remember how you checked it out and harrumphed that it was nothing but a “big fish eats little fish” game with pretty graphical effects? Remember how you played it for hours regardless?
Yeah, Solar is like that.
The rules are simple. Colliding with objects decreases your mass. More massive objects can obliterate less massive objects, though at a cost to their own mass. Pulling objects into your orbit allows you to absorb their mass. Asteroids are too small to orbit stars and will only orbit planets. Planets will orbit stars. You steer a star.
The physics of multiple objects of varying mass in motion ensures that capturing a planetary system of your very own is not as simple as it seems at first. Often I would snag a few planets only to have them capture passing asteroids and bash each other to bits with their new moons. Or a rogue asteroid would bash one planet free and it would knock out the rest of my system. And sometimes me, as well.
But it’s not just you drifting amongst space debris. There are other stars out there competing for those free-floating planetoids. And they are rather good at it. It gives a real sense of satisfaction when you absorb enough to out-mass one of those thieving bastards, bash him to powder, and claim his planets.
And there are more things in heaven and earth than you will experience in a Trial that seems all too short. Attempting to complete the full game’s 15 challenges will ensure you see at least most, if not all, of them, and unlock some gameplay-altering tweaks, as well.
Allow Microsoft to absorb 200 Points and you’ll be munching more planets than Galactus and Unicron combined!
This title was 200 Points at the time of writing this review but has since been reduced to 80 Points.
Other posts you might find interesting:
- Aquarium HD Aquarium HD review from xnPlay.co.uk. AquariumHD is an interactive aquarium...
- RBR: Fading Memories The RBR: Fading Memories Guide To Community Games Success: 1....
- Hieronymus Bash Community Games is host to a plethora of multi-player mini-games....
- The Galactic Aquarium The premise of the game is pretty simple, each day...
- Fishing Girl Isn’t this a free in-browser Flash game? Well, yes and...
It went straight to my personal top 10 community games. Buy it now, you won’t regret it.
Ahar, glad I never finished that review off I started earlier.
Yeah, Solar is fantastic. Snuck into my personal top 10 easy, too.
I enjoyed Solar but really wanted to see it expanded. You can get most of the game out of the demo. On the plus side, I spent three hours the other night just playing around with the modes and challenges, and had a great time doing it.
I began hitting the walls when I first evolved a planet into a second sun. The second sun can get planets of its own, but they crash into you, and I want “you” to now be defined as a two sun system. And then get some more suns massed together and make a galaxy. Or maybe evolve the red sun into a black hole and use that as a galactic core.
Solar is a fantastic idea, hitting all the right notes for me, but I want it fleshed out more.
There could be more content (the developer actually feels the same way) but I think you can’t complain if you get three hours worth of fun for $2,50.
Oh I definitely got my money’s worth, so I’m not complaining about that. It’s just that I look at what’s there and want to do more. I want to wage gravity wars with neighboring galaxies, cultivate black holes to serve as a galactic center, and build planets capable of surviving the gravitational rigors of a quadruple-sun system. All in an easily accessible arcade format.
You just described exactly how I wanted the game to be
Over ambition is a common problem facing developers though so I cut back to just the core idea and expanded it into a great little romp and it worked great.
But I’d really like to make an XBLA title that is in full 3D with some amazing visual effects and lots of sandbox universe fun
One day, one day…
Hey, thanks for the response. If you ever have the time/budget to make and expanded version I’ll throw lots of money at you for it. As it is, I’m still pretty happy with Solar in its current form, and having something small and fun published is better than dumping years into an uber-project that nobody ever gets to see. So it’s a fair trade-off.
You’ll be seeing an XNA graduate this week when The Dishwasher hits XBLA. Is that what alot of XNA devs want to do?
I thought this week it is Galactrix? Dishwasher and Flock are released next week.
Edit: Just saw it, they seem to have changed it. Maybe Dishwasher wasn’t the best fit for the Easter week.
I went through the trial a couple of times, but haven’t decided on whether or not to buy it yet. Are the challenges, well, challenging? And are they at all time consuming, or are they over really quickly? I definitely enjoyed what I played, so I’ll probably end up downloading the full game, but I’d really like to know more about the challenges.
Well, I’ve beaten most of them now. They’re not time consuming — most of them must be done in under 2:00 to beat them! With a bit of patience and ingenuity, you could polish them off in an hour, likely.
There will be more challenges in the coming update, though. How many he didn’t say.
“There will be more challenges in the coming update, though. How many he didn’t say.”
Well that sounds promising. I’ll most likely pick this up sometime soon. Thanks for the reply.
Most likely 3 more challenges. Not many more, but just a nice few extra
If you want content, there are some great, really deep Community Games out there that’ll keep you going for ages.
But, like Portal and Braid, if you want an original experience (even though it’s a little short) then it’s worth a look at
Awesome game. Everbody should dl the trial!
[...] here, it’s easy to come out decrying Microsoft for not doing all that they should, but if the right game in the right place can make a few grand in only a couple of weeks then surely this means that the CC is a viable route for independents. A [...]
[...] Planet Panic! has since been pulled from the service. For a more entertaining game in which you play as a planet try Solar. [...]
Just adding my personal thumbs up; I like this game a lot too.
[...] Links: Marketplace Page Official Xbox.com Forum XNPlay Review Solicheck SpaceAttack SpaceCombat Spirit Whirled StarPilot StrikeForce-Psi New! Sudoku X [...]
[...] Links: Marketplace Page Official Xbox.com Forum XNPlay Review Solicheck SpaceAttack SpaceCombat Spirit Whirled StarPilot StrikeForce-Psi New! Sudoku X [...]