Oops. Wrong story. Planetary Shield is an Indie game created by Axouxere Games about surviving the galaxy, but it’s certainly no Star Wars.
In fact, if I’m not mistaken I’m pretty sure Chewie would have a few choice words for Axouxere Games, and I don’t think they are nice enough to translate here.
The Real Story Behind It…
“Planet Earth was a quiet place.”
(*cough* Are you sure we are talking about the same planet here?)
“Until the first meteorite arrived.”
(Oh, no! We never see those things! They are like unicorns, except for space).
“Until the first meteorite arrived.”
(Seriously. That’s what it said. Again, just different picture. They are just trying to make sure you have your game face on so that you don’t let the entire human population down, is all.)
“A devastating wave of meteorites destroyed the main cities on Earth.”
(Well, I wish they would have gotten to this part a little sooner. This. Just. Got. Serious.)
“A devastating wave of meteorites destroyed the main cities on Earth.”
( . . . )
“The governments of all countries gathered in an attempt to save the planet.”
(Is Hans Solo available?)
“The perfect weapon was built.”
(Well, at least they didn’t say it twice again. Phew.)
“And was put into operation.”
(Gee, I thought we’d just hang out a bit. Grab a beer. Have a chat.)
“You must destroy all the meteorites. Planetary shield has begun.”
(So, like, if this planet has a shield, why do I gotta bother? Can’t I just go play Tomb Raider?)
The Game Play
This game was originally an Android game before it crossed over to Xbox, and it feels like one. What’s worse is that even on a mobile device, I still would have downloaded this game and been pretty bored with it after a few levels. Not only are the graphics on the low end, but even the way you access everything just screams MOBILE PHONE. Or in Chewie talk thats, “teraejfhkw KSDRJETEKR asfhasEHE PHONE.” You wonder how long it could have taken them to make this game in X-Large size for Xbox.
So if you still care to know, it’s a “skill” game.
Your weapon is this slingshot device that has been upgraded with the best our modern technology can produce – laser slingshot device. You pull it back using the left joystick and fling balls at the never ending, never changing, rather slow moving meteorites. You must press A to release it. There is an easy and hard setting and you can also play this in two person so a friend can join you.
Your goal is to make sure no meteorites reach Planet Earth. To do this, you also receive bonuses if you can manage to blast them out of the sky when they come around. In addition to this goal, at other times you must navigate escape ships to a “docking” area. The area ships are supposed to dock isn’t the easiest to fly to ship to (which uses the right joystick). Lastly you can blow up bombs using the bumper.
In easy mode, it was so easy to shoot those spinning pieces of rock out of the black canvas starry background that I had to stop after a while with the idea of going to hard mode. Once you stop, it’s Game Over too. Like literally. Every time you stop even if you didn’t actually die (which is my normal definition of game over). Now, it’s possible that the game becomes more challenging and/or interesting once at a high level in Easy mode, but I wasn’t interested enough even to get me there.
In hard mode, the game is a little more interesting. The meteorites aren’t such a breeze to shoot down; not all of them will “explode” on a first hit.
I have to admit that the combination of having to dock ships and shoot meteorites out of the sky make the game play a little more challenging – but not nearly challenging enough. Docking ships gets you to a new level, after exploding a particularly large meteorite (Think: Death Star except easier to blow apart).
The sounds and music get annoying too, because it’s never changing. You shoot the same thing a lot, listen to the same sound a lot, and here the same few melodies over and over again until you start thinking to yourself – is Earth really worth it that much?
A Very Short Video On Some Of The Game…
In the end, this game only costs 80C on Xbox, so you won’t be breaking your bank to pay for it. Of course, the fact that you do have to pay for it makes you scratch your head a bit. I think they should have stuck to Android, where this game probably makes a lot more sense.
