Monday, September 22, 2014

Galaxy Dash: Race to Outer Run: Endless Runner Meets Roller Coaster

Published on Monday, 22 September 2014 02:55

Jim Vessella, Simon Armstrong and Kyle Van Meurs created SuperMoon Games. Based in San Francisco, CA, they created their game studio earlier this year, "...with the goal of creating delicious, bite-sized games that could be enjoyed by both veteran gamers and an eager generation of new players." These gentlemen were so passionate about gaming, that they chose to leave corporate America to do their own thing. That means, this first game is completely self-funded. It is their hope that it will be successful enough for them to continue making games. Galaxy Dash: Race to Outer Run is a roller coaster of an endless runner that is bold, beautiful and exciting to play. If their goal was to create delicious, bite-sized games, then this one is a big snack that won't leave you hungry.

Galaxy Dash: Race to Outer Run is all about space exploration. SuperMoon Games wanted to give players the opportunity to pilot a space ship. As was mentioned before, this game is an endless runner. However, there are subtle touches in the game design that make the game unique and aesthetically pleasing. It can be difficult at times to take in all of the game's beauty while you are piloting your ship through a sea of asteroids. As with any endless runner, the game controls are relegated to swiping left and right. What is nice about the movement in the game, is that even though you are moving left and right, or lane changing, the background adjusts moving up and down. This really makes the game more challenging because it affects your depth perception. It doesn't take long after the tutorial to get the hang of everything, but being successful playing the game will take a little practice. Tapping the screen allows you to shoot asteroids or space ships, which adds to the complexity of the game. Just a note here, if you are left-handed, you can change that one-touch option in the settings to make it work better for you. Like I said, SuperMoon Games has provided an impressive level of detail with the game.

As you travel to different regions, you will need to collect different cargo items that are either floating aimlessly in space or they may be connected to another space ship. If the cargo is connected to a space ship, you have to destroy the space ship and grab the cargo. All this occurs while you are trying to avoid those asteroids. You are also harvesting/collecting gold and green energy crystals. One of which helps to power your shields, which is an absolute necessity considering the amount of asteroids you will be running into. This is where ship upgrades come in.

Upgrading your ship is a simple affair and is handled pretty easily in a menu screen. You pay for upgrades based on the crystals you have collected or, power cores. Power cores are sparsely populated as you travel to different regions as well. The power cores give you the option of continuing a run if you meet a timely end by colliding with an asteroid, or if you get shot by another space ship. You can upgrade your shields, weapons and cargo bay. You will accrue more points by increasing the amount of cargo you are able to carry, because at the end of each level/run, you drop off the cargo you have collected at a space station.

You can purchase seven different ships to fly and they all have different attributes. Some have better weapons, where others have stronger shields. Each ship has a special ability too, so choosing the right ship can affect how you play the game. They are purchased using the in-game crystals and power cores. Some of the ships are a bit higher in price, so you may have to play a bit to increase your stash of crystals and power-cores. Changing ships really does affect the game play too. When I switched from the Cosmic Shuttle to the Starbird Interceptor, I was able to modify how I played the game based on the ship's attributes. The level of fun definitely increased as well, because my ship was faster. I did this after I maxed out the first ship. I purchased a ship while playing on my phone (using an in-app purchase), but when I went to play the game on my tablet, it wasn't showing that I purchased it. I used the restore purchase option, but it didn't work, so be careful there. Hopefully SuperMoon Games can get that worked out.

The other item you can add and upgrade are crew members. There are seven different crew members to choose from. Each crew member has different abilities that can be upgraded. This is where the power-ups come in. The first crew member available is a Rebel. She is a laser enthusiast. Her power-up is super lasers. Once she is assigned to your ship and you go on your space run, super lasers can be found floating in space. Once you grab the power-up, it is automatically activated. Your rate of fire power increases with this power-up. Other crew members provide tractor beams, shield recharging, score doubling, infinite energy, and super shields. You can have multiple crew members assigned to your ship as you travel through space. This helps with how you play the game and it makes it easier to increase your score.

At any given time, there are three missions to complete. Completing missions gives you energy crystals or power cores. Missions vary from travelling a certain amount of distance, to shooting a large quantity of asteroids, or upgrading your ship/crew in different ways. This keeps the game play fresh and allows you to keep aiming for the best space run possible. There are also free daily bonuses that can be obtained simply by starting up the game and going to this menu screen. You get free power cores and energy crystals, so it is helpful that SuperMoon Games gives you an option to increase your stash in a simple way.

Galaxy Dash: Race to Outer Run is a free-to-play game. Though some of the items are higher priced, in no way does it feel to me, like this game is pay to play. SuperMoon Games has built in easy ways to accrue energy and power cores by simply playing the game. The game is a blast to play and the care taken with game design is immediately evident upon your first space run. You can play the game in quick bursts, or spend much more time trying to complete all of the missions. Considering this is the first game from SuperMoon Games, let's hope the game is well received. This studio has a bright future if they continue to produce enjoyable games with this level of polish.  The game is available to download now in the Play Store. It is integrated with Google Game Play Services with leaderboards and 25 achievements to obtain. It looks really amazing on your phone, but game play is even better on a tablet. You should download this title just to try it out. If you enjoy it, reward the developers the for their hard work by unlocking the ads. I look forward to future titles from SuperMoon Games.

Google Play Link: http://ift.tt/1trieHs

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