iPhone App Review – A Space Jam

A Space Jam has nothing to do with the animated Michael Jordan movie.  It does have cool retro graphics and catchy sound.  Although it doesn’t feature the greatest basketball player in history, it makes up for that with innovative controls and fun gameplay.

The app is very simple to play.  On launch you are presented with a menu screen offering several choices (start, option, instructions etc.) Once start is pushed you see all 20 levels, but only the first one is unlocked and available.  You open new levels by completing the previous ones, but you can go back and play any of the unlocked levels after they’re opened.  The goal of the game is to collect UFOnauts with your UFO while avoiding asteroids.

The play screen starts with your UFO in the center and your UFOnauts entering the screen from all sides.  The movement of the UFO is accomplished by touching and dragging.  Dragging creates a beam of light, and the end of the beam is the new anchor point for the UFO.  Rather than dragging the UFO directly, you create a beam of light that the UFO then follows and rebounds away from.  The speed of the drag dictates how quickly the UFO will travel along the beam.  Too slow and the UFOnauts won’t be picked up.  Same goes for too fast.  The happy medium is required.  Difficulty is increased by introducing asteroids that decrease your health and UFOnauts of different colors that require more hits to absorb.

The graphics are retro and pretty cool.  The UFO and the UFOnauts look like they were taken from a classic sci-fi movie.  The asteroids look good, as does the background.  The in-game music is really good but also really repetitive.  Sound effects are simple and fit really well with the look of the game.  The physics of the UFO and the UFOnauts bouncing off of each other are nice.  The way the UFO slides along the beam and rebounds from the anchor point is cool.  Success requires subtle control and anticipation of the UFO’s reaction to being slung around.  I almost with the game was more difficult.  You aren’t punished very much for asteroid collisions and at a certain point you just have to haphazardly sling the UFO around and collect the UFOnauts.

What the game lacks in depth and replayability it makes up for with cool graphics and innovative controls.  More difficulty and a bit more variety in the levels would really set this apart.  We be jammin’?  Pretty much.  I recommend A Space Jam for fans of line drawers and retro sci-fi.

Overall impression

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Value for your money

★★★★★★★★★ ★

Category: Games
Type: Line drawing strategy
Cost: FREE
Rating: 4+

Current iTunes Reviews: 87 ratings, 2.5 stars

Description:

What people say:
- My kids love playing it and I could not get my phone back for hours.
- This game are very fun and addictive. the graphics are very polished.
- This game has theme in droves, the graphics and music are superb!
- For a simple app it’s fun. The yo yo concept is new and interesting.

Space Jam is a retro looking sci-fi arcade game with real physics, where you have to collect little ufonauts with your UFO, trying to avoid crashes with asteroids and mines.

The gameplay is unique because you move your UFO on a light beam like a YoYo. You must be very skillful to get the highest possible score.

Features:

- 20 levels
- 4 different music tracks
- AGON based Online Highscore
- Free updates

If you liked FlightControl or Rolando, you will love Space Jam.

Control:
Touch the UFO on the screen with your finger and move your finger to pull the UFO into different directions. As quicker you move your finger, as quicker will the UFO bounce around on the screen.

Try to find the right speed to collect the ufonauts. If you are too quick or too slow, they will be kicked away.

What’s new

- new backgrounds

Bugfixes:

- AGON landscape fixed
- Music changes properly
- UFO doesn’t fly out of the screen
- Levels don’t open after explosion