So the new Llamasoft 'Project Minotaur' retro-genre mash-up is out: a Lunar Lander/Caverns of Mars/Choplifter/Thrust hybrid.
Gameplay: Guide one of four retro-vintage ships (with different handling providing, in effect, different difficulties) down to the botton of a cavern avoiding laser gates, turrets and various other devious enemies and traps. Grab the comedy booty (a chicken jalfrezi, a pair of pants, the head of Joe Allard, etc.), and bring it back up again through a cavern that now has lots of extra baddies (space invaders, asteroids, falling tetris blocks, etc.), before delivering it to the 'Mothersheep'. Save minotaurs along the way to re-fill shields and fuel. Level scored on time taken crossed with baddies shot down crossed with minotaurs saved and fuel remaining. 21 caverns in all, some quite innovative and unexpected. That's it for gameplay.
Controls: Simple and excellent. left-right and thrust, ships fire automatically, no on-screen buttons cluttering stuff up. Llamasoft are very good for that. Although on the small phone screen I kept accidentally hitting the mid-screen pause (sorry, 'paws'...heh heh!) area. I-Cade support though so should be great for that.
Aesthetic: As you'd expect. Tons of recycled sprites and samples from games past, the same we've been seeing/hearing in the previous four iOS games. Burps, grunts, farts and klaxons provide the soundtrack. Damn fugly all round, tbh.
Issues: Some collision detection issues. Managed to impale my ship down through a solid pillar at the bottom of cavern 7, for example, then respawned/died instantly inside that pillar and used up all my lives. Memories of Jet Set Willy.
Conclusion: A lot of fun to be had if you're in the mood for some by-the-book Minter 'wackiness' combined with (the usual) tight controls, thoughtful level design, tough but fair enemy patterns, and a good difficulty scale. Personally I'm a little fatigued with the rush of these releases now (I've bought all five phone games from the past year: Minotaur Rescue, Minotron 2012, Deflex, GoatUp and this), and I think I'd prefer to see a more sedate release schedule to allow for a bit more innovation and polish, or even something more fully featured on a 'proper' platform. But Minter and Giles seem happy, and if this keeps them afloat in these difficult times, all power to them.
?1.49 on App Store. Universal App.
Gameplay: Guide one of four retro-vintage ships (with different handling providing, in effect, different difficulties) down to the botton of a cavern avoiding laser gates, turrets and various other devious enemies and traps. Grab the comedy booty (a chicken jalfrezi, a pair of pants, the head of Joe Allard, etc.), and bring it back up again through a cavern that now has lots of extra baddies (space invaders, asteroids, falling tetris blocks, etc.), before delivering it to the 'Mothersheep'. Save minotaurs along the way to re-fill shields and fuel. Level scored on time taken crossed with baddies shot down crossed with minotaurs saved and fuel remaining. 21 caverns in all, some quite innovative and unexpected. That's it for gameplay.
Controls: Simple and excellent. left-right and thrust, ships fire automatically, no on-screen buttons cluttering stuff up. Llamasoft are very good for that. Although on the small phone screen I kept accidentally hitting the mid-screen pause (sorry, 'paws'...heh heh!) area. I-Cade support though so should be great for that.
Aesthetic: As you'd expect. Tons of recycled sprites and samples from games past, the same we've been seeing/hearing in the previous four iOS games. Burps, grunts, farts and klaxons provide the soundtrack. Damn fugly all round, tbh.
Issues: Some collision detection issues. Managed to impale my ship down through a solid pillar at the bottom of cavern 7, for example, then respawned/died instantly inside that pillar and used up all my lives. Memories of Jet Set Willy.
Conclusion: A lot of fun to be had if you're in the mood for some by-the-book Minter 'wackiness' combined with (the usual) tight controls, thoughtful level design, tough but fair enemy patterns, and a good difficulty scale. Personally I'm a little fatigued with the rush of these releases now (I've bought all five phone games from the past year: Minotaur Rescue, Minotron 2012, Deflex, GoatUp and this), and I think I'd prefer to see a more sedate release schedule to allow for a bit more innovation and polish, or even something more fully featured on a 'proper' platform. But Minter and Giles seem happy, and if this keeps them afloat in these difficult times, all power to them.
?1.49 on App Store. Universal App.
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