Download Size: 400 MB
Time Played: 1 hour
Missions Completed: 5 / 28
What I'd Pay: $5
Steam Price (4/1/12): $10
Space Ark combines weird dual-character controls with sickeningly cute graphics to produce a mediocre game. The solar system has been ravaged, so it's up to the Arkonauts to gather DNA and fruit to terraform the fragments back into something livable.
The game plays like an Arkanoid variant: you use a bouncy pad to fling your Arkonaut into the air and keep him from splatting into the ground. What's strange is that you simultaneously control the jetpacking Arkonaut; it doesn't let you stay in the air indefinitely, but it lets you maneuver and get some more height. Although the control setup is initially awkward on a keyboard (WASD for one, arrow keys for the other), the game is slow enough that it doesn't mess up your game too much.
To finish a level, you need to collect all of the DNA blocks and reach the exit. To terraform a level, though, you need to build up a high-enough combo by grabbing multiple DNA of the same color in one leap. These combos feel very swingy; normally it's easy to build up a large enough combo, but if you completely screw up a combo by adding the wrong DNA at the wrong time, you won't terraform the level & thus won't complete the mission, sending 15 minutes of work completely down the drain. There isn't even a Replay Level option. That was the point I put the game down; it wasn't fun enough for me to redo 15 minutes of work just to unlock the next one.
It also has a point multiplier and powerup system, but those also feel rather simple. You increase your mulitiplier by grabbing falling fruit, and you gain powerups by grabbing falling powerup pods, which so far consist of standard things like guns for your bouncy pad or a shield to keep the Arkonaut from hitting the ground. It's nothing you haven't seen before.
The most noteworthy thing about the game is just how cute it is. You get a different Arkonaut for each mission, and they all have the same plush baby animal look, all smiles and waves and aerial dancing. Young kids may love it, but it kind of creeped me out. "Look at how soft & plushy I am! Hug me! Love me! I command it, teehee!"
Other than that cuteness & the dual controls, there was nothing unusual or compelling about this game. I lost interest in it after the first half-hour and the first setback was enough to make me put it down for good. It's a decent effort, but there's better action puzzlers than this for the same price.