I have always been a fan of space being a Star Wars fanatic (not a Star Trek guy though). How fun could it be to take a sweet spaceship and buzz around the universe visiting strange and uncharted worlds. With that said, most any space game has always been entertaining to me. Whether it means blasting ships and aliens or making friends with them for business reasons, space is always a fun place to game. I jumped at the chance to review Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space for these very reason. Let’s take a look.
Choose between three ships to command around the universe and work from a down and out star ship captain to an intergalactic hero. Each game will take around thirty minutes which is just about the right amount of time when you have a few minutes to kill, but want to play a deeper game than a simple puzzle or word game. To make sure you keep coming back for more, Weird Worlds will randomly create a new star map each time the game is played. Each game will take your ship to new planets as well as present new problems and experiences.
Choose your ship and head out into the vast expanses of space to explore. A heads up display will help players monitor the items their ship is carrying as well as what upgrades and weapons have been applied. The size of the star map will affect the length of the game. The shortest game will take 10 years (game time) to play. Your job is to travel around the map and collect anything of value to bring back to the pirate that has hired you. The more you complete, the better your space cred will be to get you better jobs in the future. You will collect items such as technology, alien artifacts, lifeforms, weapons and even hostages. Everything brought back will bring rewards. To move around the map, tap on a new star to see its information. While moving to new stars, it is best to avoid nebula areas since this will slow your progress considerably.
As you travel around the stars, a large number of decisions must be made. The decisions will decide if you trade or take items from planets and some of the aliens or which stars you will visit. Remember, each choice that is made will take a certain amount of time which will subtract from the total allotted for the mission. You may trade, steal, collect or even fight with the beings. I found early on that you must make good decisions with your ship when looking at engaging beings that want a fight. I have a bad habit of jumping into fights quickly before building up my ship which usually ends my mission in a fiery explosion. Plan and be smart as you navigate the star map.
Weird Worlds Return to Infinite Space is not a 3D shoot ’em up space game. The game is fairly deep and will require some planning and strategy. When I play the game, I think of the old school book fair days when I would buy several choose your own adventure books each year. Basically, each decision made during the game will greatly affect the outcome of the mission so use your own strategy that matches your personality, but be smart how you connect and interact with the occupants of the solar systems. You can check out Weird Worlds yourself here in the app store for $4.99. Go see if you can rule the cosmos!
What I like: Various game lengths can be chosen and the random map creator ensures a new game play experience every time.
What could be improved: I would like to see some extra control from the fight screens to make the game more hands on.
RT @GearDiarySite: iPad App Review: Weird Worlds Return to Infinite Space http://goo.gl/fb/KOAxF