Moonlander

.: By: Seth Bilodeau :: Device used: iPAQ H3650 :: February 2, 2001 :.

Back when arcade games didn’t have three million polygons and soundtracks by famous punk bands, when games didn’t cost a dollar a pop, there was something that today’s games don’t have: innovation.  Games had jousting ostriches, yellow dots running from Technicolor ghosts, and plumbers trying to save princesses from gorillas.  In this era, a game was created called Lunar Lander, in which the player tried to land a spacecraft on a moon, while dealing with gravity, the landscape, fuel consumption, and inertia.  Since then, it has been ported to various platforms with varying degrees of success.  Now a clone is finally out for Pocket PC, named Moonlander.  How does it fare?  Read on...

The game in action

Gameplay:

You control a small spacecraft, and have to land it on a small landing platform.  You have to fight inertia and gravity, and have to keep an eye on your fuel consumption.  There are power-ups conveniently located just above the planet surface (which blows you up if you touch it), one that gives you an extra engine, and one that gives you more fuel.  Often, you’ll end up spending more fuel than you get trying to reach the power-ups, so I don’t recommend going after them until you REALLY need them.  As you progress through the stages (or “moons”), the gravity gets stronger, and harder to fight.  Finally, you lose if you go off-screen (hint: don’t do this).

This game is a fun time killer.  Not too deep, but more involving than Solitaire.  It is different from Lunar Lander in quite a few ways (you can’t rotate your vessel, you can’t land on the landscape itself, etc.), but it ends up being more fun.

7/10

Graphics:

Not stunning, but not horrible either.  Although everything looks simple, nothing is really bad, and the original game wasn’t a stunner to begin with.  The background is just an average star field, with the occasional shooting star or planet passing by to liven things up.  The actual objects are about as detailed as they need to be, without being overly detailed.  Everything is instantly recognized, and nothing more.  However, the game is always smooth due to the simple graphics, and that is much more important when dealing with a game like this.

5/10

Sound:

Not much to comment on here.  There are some nifty clips when a level starts and ends, and some simple sound effects for the throttle and collecting a power-up.  They serve their purpose, but it would be nice if there was something extra, like music.

3/10

Control:

Responsive and intuitive.  There’s no option for stylus control, but it really isn’t needed.

8/10

This game has really grown on me.  At first I though it was just another homebrew game that was devoid of any real value.  However, I quickly got sucked into its simple but addictive gameplay, and I remembered why the original was a success in the first place, not because of graphics or sound, but because of pure FUN.  I recommend that you all go out and try the demo, it may grow on you too.

Final score: 6/10 (due mostly to low graphics and sound scores)

.: Game category: Action & Arcade Games :: Reviews Index :.