Little Galaxy
Developer: Bitmap Galaxy
Publisher: Bitmap Galaxy
Platforms: iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch, Android
Release Date: 18th August 2013
Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
Little galaxy is a cute, little, one-touch, casual game by developers, Bitmap Galaxy. When it comes to Mobile Games I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan, but ever once in a while a game comes along that is so simple, so easy yet so fun that my faith in the platform can’t help but be renewed. Little galaxy absolutely does this and I’ve got a good feeling that a lot of people will feel the same way as I do about this game.
Visuals
Little Galaxy has possibly the most well-rounded and beautiful looking visuals I’ve seen in an iOS game for a very long time. It has an incredibly eerie feel to it while also keeping that childish nature floating around like a warm aura, I think it may be because of the clay model-style of animation that they have, for all I know it could actually be a stop-motion clay figure on the screen.
The way that they layer the graphics is very nice, the galaxy in the background sparkles in the distance and you can feel that distance too, the planets you land on look solid and the gems you collect throughout gameplay complement the other visual aspects well, they don’t stand out too much yet they stand out just enough for you to be able to differentiate between them and the stars in the distance. On closer inspection of some of the larger planets, it almost looks like the terrain, as minuscule as it may be, looks fairly real, it’s a testament to the the team for putting in so much effort in the smallest of details.
Audio
The biggest piece of audio within this game is the music track that plays throughout it and although it’s just one track and there are no actually track changes, the one piece of music within it seems to bend and vary in a way that, even though it loops around to the beginning, doesn’t seem to get annoying. It’s as though the music was composed with the intention to allow a player to use it more therapeutically while playing the game, as strange as it sounds.
The game isn’t hard at all, you barely screw up and loose once you’ve played it for a bit, and I think the music flows along with the type of gameplay. The use of flutes and what seems like small symbols really just makes this game what it is, especially when you pair it off with the visuals. Some games cannot to this well, I’ve played big, console titles that used, basically, just one song and couldn’t do it right but I won’t point fingers. The sound of getting gems is basic, not that it needs to be anything big, it’s nice to hear a little “bling” when dashing through the gems without being overwhelmed when there’s a group of them you have to collect.
Gameplay
It is very easy to play this game, a child could play it, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s basically one finger, that’s all you use, just one finger. You’re a small child that stands on a small planet, the planet moves around and your aim is to jump from one planet to the next and you do that by tapping the screen, that’s it. It’s really simple, really easy and really well-done. You collect gems and power-ups that help you collect more gems, if you miss a planet you fly off of the screen and start the game again.
There are small obstacles here and there but they’re easy to overcome and kind of fun to run into as well. There are no real “levels” in the game, it’s similar to an endless runner, though there is a “levelling system” I would say. let me give you an example; you start off on level 1.1, there are three achievements that pop up on your screen before you begin, if you complete those achievements you go to level 1.2 and so on and so forth, the obstacles change and get harder the more you go on like in a normal level-based game I just find it interesting that this is the way they went about it. Once again, it just works. You can actually see a demonstration of the game in our featured video section below.
Overall
This game is an absolute winner for me, simple as that. It’s exactly what these types of games should be, there’s no annoying sounds, there’s no annoying features, it’s extremely accessible and so easy to just pick up and start playing at any time. I literally stopped writing this review about three or four times just to play a round of the game, my temptation; my phone was sitting right next to me while writing. That’s all it takes for this game. All I have to say is that they team over at Bitmap Galaxy have done extremely well with this game and for $0.99 you have nothing to loose by picking this one up.
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