StarDrone Extreme Review: Pinballing in Space

By Nick on

About Nick

Founder and co-host of Cast of Thrones. Say hello on twitter. @rbristow

 

You’re probably like me, extremely good looking, beating off suitors with a stick, and have no idea what the hell StarDrone Extreme is. This is not good, your otherwise perfect display of human perfection is being tarnished by this fact. It’s ok though, I’m here to help. 

StarDrone Extreme is my latest addiction. It is a new PS Vita downloadable title that combines a little bit from pinball, Peggle, and Pixel Junk Eden into one hodgepodge of a game. At its core it is a puzzle game. Each level has you traversing space to collect stars or pieces of a star. Doing this as quickly as possible is the point (and without dying is where the puzzleness comes from).

Flying from star to star would be no issue if you could just move like every other 2D space flight game, but thats not the case here. StarDrone is most unique in its traversal of each level. At the start of each level you launch yourself using the touch screen in a direction. Throughout each level there are grab points which allow you to lasso on  and spin around or change direction. You catch and release to throw yourself around the level. Everything is touchscreen based, you touch near a catch point to connect to it. Thankfully, you don’t have to be extremely precise, allowing you to place your finger near it without blocking your view.

Catching and releasing at the proper time is key to being successful as the levels are littered with things intended to kill you or shoot you in new directions. You can be killed fairly quickly by spikes and attack drones, but if you collect enough stars fast enough you can hit back. Most of the levels also contain slides and boosts pads. The slides propel you down them in which ever direction you hit them at. The boost pads on the other hand will propel you in a linear direction. Figuring out how to position yourself to launch you into a new area is really rewarding and fun.

After playing through the first 20 or so levels, things did start to feel a little repetitive, but it’s fun, cheap, and something new for your PS Vita. If you’re into physics/skill-based puzzling, do yourself a favor and play this game.

Four Stars

This review is based on a retail copy of Star Drone Extreme provided by Beatshapers. It is a PS Vita exclusive.

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