Captain Galactic: Super Space hero
From the guys who brought you “Haunted 3D Rollercoaster Rush” and “3D Brick Breaker Revolution”, comes a different kind of hero action adventure game. Captain Galactic, the Super Space Hero, is here to blast his way onto your iPhone / iPod device. Being their first action/adventure game, how does Captain Galactic stack up in such a loaded genre? With a whole new control scheme and different style gameplay, let’s travel at lightning speed to the future with our trusty ship and see where this game takes us.
Gameplay:
Each futuristic game pays differently and has there own take on how our universe will look in the “future”. Here in Captain Galactic’s world, our hero has no problem jumping from planet to planet. That’s actually how you get from one place to another.
The object of your quest is to go around hopping from planet to planet, collecting coins, knocking down baddies, and rescuing people trapped in orbs. You must rescue the people trapped in the orbs under a certain time; that is your primary mission but your score is based on how many points you score. As usual to an action game, beating down enemies and collecting coins scores you more points. And the more points you get, the higher star rating you get (out of 3).
Equipped with you to complete this endeavor is your trusty rocket pack that allows you to sling from planet to planet, hopping with ease. Your main attack is the slingshot attack where you circle a certain planet several times until you release and slingshot your hero to his destination. The background soundtrack that “sets the mood” for this whole epic futuristic adventure is like the music they play at Disneyland while you’re waiting in line for Buzzlightyear’s Blasters. It may be corny, it may be your cheesy “of the future” music, but man, is it so riveting. The music simply takes you to another world, into the year 2200 where you truly feel like you are Captain Galactic.
You will find that after a certain amount of levels, a boss approaches, holding captive some of your friends. The bosses are more like giant planets that you must use your “slingshot” rocket attack to take him down. He’s your typical boss except he doesn’t move, and just throws more bad guys at you the more you hurt him. However, many of the bosses feel too similar to each other, and pretty much the strategy to defeating them is the same as well.
Controls:
This is where things get a little tricky. It’s controlled by a slider control on your left, and an action button on your right. Some may find the controls to be a dealbreaker. The “slingshot” attack is pretty much your only attack against the horrible beats of the universe and it takes a lot of timing and precision to get it just right. At times, you will find that your orb or a certain coin in the air is at the exact place where you can’t orbit around the planet to grab it. Thus, you will have to “slingshot” yourself to grab the item but that item is very small and the slingshot is very unforgiving. If you miss by the slightest bit, you miss it all.
It can be very frustrating, and I was a little frustrated in the beginning. The boss battles especially because some battles you have to slingshot him once to open up his “vulnerable area” and then you have to precisely “slingshot” yourself into a small specific spot. Hard to do. As you are slingshotted into the air, you can adjust your movements just slightly using the slider controller, but it’s only a slight bit and likely won’t alleviate your frustrations most the times. But I’m here to encourage you that may feel discouraged. It may take a while to get used to, but it’s a fun ride along the way and that’s what kept me into the world of Captain Galactic.
Other than the slingshot, everything else is very responsive and works well. Orbiting around planets, collecting coins, and kicking bad guys butts is pretty exhilarating if you ask me. Once again, it takes a while getting used to slinging around planet to planet, not to mention landing on the planet, knowing which way is right and which way is left.
What We Liked:
- Play up to 30 levels
- Daringly unique style of gameplay and controls
- Intense boss fights
- Futuristic sound effects and soundtrack
- Above average cartoony graphics
- Awards and achievements
- Option to play your own music
- Balanced difficulty
What We Disliked:
- Control scheme may be awkward for some
- Not many super powers for our hero
- Different boss, same feel
- Shaky accuracy of slingshot
- Takes a while to get used to controls
Final Verdict:
Yes, let’s step aboard the galactic ship into a world where planets are like stepping stones and people are trapped in marbles that need rescuing. Captain Galactic is a polished game that has solid gameplay and takes a daring leap in bringing such a unique style of controls. For most, it’ll be hit or miss, so I suggest investing in the Lite version and see if you got a friend in Captain Galactic like Woody got a friend in Buzz Lightyear.
Related posts:
- Hero of Sparta Review
- Galactic Gunner Review
- Zombeat: Guitar Hero meets Resident Evil? It’s Time to Rock!
Category: Games
I´m gonna have to defend this game because I’m really enjoying it. As far as I’m concerned the developers took the right approach in not including too many buttons. Simply swipe to go left or right and hit the button to jump and fly. The real fun comes in mastering the controls, I cannot emphasize this enough. Make sure you play the first levels over and over until you can really master the slingshot attack (let go of the button when you are parallel to the enemy that is in that same planet) and then this game is a blast!
Sure, the learning curve is steep, but the rewards for accomplishing that are amazing. You get to fly around from planet to planet to collect coins and kill enemies, taking advantage of the orbital paths which ACCURATELY mimic paths comets and planets should follow.
I would say there is enough variety. Later on, you encounter planets that explode if you hit them hard, which makes you change strategies. Seriously give it a try, besides the load screens, which you encounter fairly often, and some pixelatiion when the camera zooms in, you shouldn’t find many problems to hinder your purchase.
Also tried the lite version, agree with the comments regarding the controls, and just found the game generally lacking. Just too much of the same thing over and over and over….
While I usually don’t judge games by their looks, this game looks very similar to Star Trigon in terms of gameplay (i.e. spinning around in circles and jumping to another circle to spin around). I don’t think I like the look of the controls either.
Though your nice review almost convinced me
OOH man thank you Seishu. I was TOTALLY blanking on that game that was almost exactly like it (Star Trigon). yea, i wanted to mention it in the review but i totally forgot the name of that app.
this one controls better than that game and has more depth though so if you liked Star Trigon youll definitely find Captain Galactic quite entertaining.
I tried the lite and agree that, while the game seemed to have potential, the controls were just a bit too weird for me to really get into the game. I was enjoying the idea of finding the proper orbit and everything, but it seemed to get a bit boring after just a short time.
Hah yes, the controls were a deal breaker for me. I tried the lite version because the game looked like a bit of casual fun. It looks bright, energetic and cartoony. And after all who wouldn’t want to slingshot themselves from planet to planet? But I didn’t make it past the turorial level. In the end I was screaming out loud in frustration and wanted to slingshot my poor iPhone across the room.