Deep Under the Sky

A solid mobile-style single-button physics puzzler with gorgeous, psychedelic visuals. It's the sort of game where you can just zone out and try again and again to get the bonus objectives.

The best game in the 'Gymnastic Tentacular-come-cellular Procreation Simulation' genre I have ever had the plessure to play.

This is a short simple game, sort of a conglomeration of microbes, sea life and space. Your aim is kind of a "mini golf" situation where you try to bounce towards a target. The gameplay itself is very simple, and it lacks a leaderboard [which I think would greatly benefit this kind of game]. Where the game really stands out is the art. The game is very pretty, brightly coloured, and is probably classed more as playable art than a game. Keep this in mind before buying.

When I play this game, I think of what life might be like underneath the ice of Europa. This is a really fun game.

It's too repetitive

The game is too short and too repetitive to be justifiable at its listed price, even with the pretty art. Only consider this on sale. I think it's a fine enough, fairly simply but not too simple to the point of being tedious puzzle game. It's mostly a matter of timing, as well as figuring out how to hit everything using whatever moves you're given in each level. There's 80 levels in all, and each has 2 secret stars to collect alongside the targets needed to clear the level. One minor gripe I had is that clearing the main objective forces you out of the level, so if you accidentally trigger the last target before collecting the star, you have to redo the level to get it. Happened fairly frequently to me. The level design tends to be pretty good, the only really hard stuff to hit being the stars but many of the targets involve an interesting use of the mechanics given. There's a boost in the direction you're moving, a set-angle boost, a move to turn into a ball, and a grapple mechanic, given to the player piece-by-piece over the course of the four worlds. Each level has a preset order of moves and you have to use these moves in specific ways at specific times to hit all the targets. It's a very simple game, even if I've accidentally made it sound complex; one-button control and no free movement, just controlling the moves you're given. It's a fun game for short bursts, though I couldn't take playing too much of it at one time, even despite its short length. It's a solid enough game, no real gripes with it, though not immensely enjoyable and not immesely rewarding. Basically what you'd expect from a mobile port, I guess?

Angry Birds with a chip on its shoulder. An alien chip. The game begins with some very basic physics puzzles and quickly ramps up to more and more twitch gameplay; not only will you have to time each click perfectly, especially for the stars, but every level needs several differently timed executions, not just one. It's surprisingly addictive once things start getting more complicated, especially if you're obsessive about getting all the stars. It may be a mobile game, but it makes up for that with excellent level design that easily translates to PC. The graphics aren't much to write home about, but they do a good job, and even have that retro Ecco the Dolphin feel. The best part is that there's no fake difficulty, it's all skill. They even show you where you last clicked, so you can do better next time, but despite that it's intuition and reflex that will succeed, not mechanical learning. But don't trust the video. That doesn't capture the feel of the game at all. As for price, I'm not sure the regular price is worth it, but it's often on sale and it'll keep you entertained for hours. Pick it up. Note: When it says "one button only: The space bar" that actually means space, mouse, or gamepad button. So it's definitely no limiting you to any control scheme.