Space Ark is a puzzle game in the style of the classic Breakout series. Instead of a ball, however, you have cute little animals bouncing up and down on a bounce pad collecting jewels and fruits. They’re not doing this just for fun though. These animals are Arkonauts who have been tasked with terraforming five planets that were laid to waste by a wandering black hole.
Pretty dark back-story for such a cute and colorful game, eh? Read on after the break to see what Space Ark is all about.
Space Ark (XBLA)
Developer: Strawdog Studios
Publisher: Strawdog Studios
To be released: Spring 2010
You’re in control of two characters as you play Space Ark — an animal and the bounce pad. The bounce pad is moved with the left stick and the animals are controlled by the right stick. The animals jump up and down the level collecting gems while the pad is meant to keep the animals in the air, collecting falling fruits and catching power-up items.
The main goal in Mission mode is to collect all of the gems in the 144 stages. Once all the gems are collected, the exit unlocks and you can move on to the next level. Each stage also has a high score you can hit. Collecting three or more of the same color gems gives you combo bonuses and collecting fruits fuels your power meter which multiples your score.
This all sounds simple enough, but it’s going to take some retraining of your Breakout skills as you’re in control of two characters at all times here. You’re able to control the direction and how high your little animal can go as it’s bouncing across collecting gems and you want to keep up with the animal with the bounce pad. There are various obstacles — such as fans, conveyor belts, clouds, bricks — that can either help or hinder your characters as well.
Two other modes are part of the Space Ark package — Time Attack and Survival. In Time Attack, you just need to do the bare minimum in order to pass the stage as fast as possible. Survival is the same but you have a timer that’s counting down to zero.
Space Ark also has two-player versus support but it’s sadly limited to local split-screen support. Multiplayer is a race to collect as much as possible and be the first one to escape the stage. Being the first to exit a stage nets you a huge bonus, so players can still lose despite having the most collected gems. Multiplayer also offers you the chance to use your Avatars, which is a nice alternative once I realized the animals look eerily similar to the Retarded Animal Babies.
Space Ark is a fun little puzzle game that has some addictive qualities to it. It’s a bit too slow for my tastes when it comes to Breakout style puzzlers. My only real complaint of the game is how hectic the screen can get when you’re playing versus. There are too many things happening on the screen to the point that you can’t really see your character all that well.
Look for Space Ark to hit Xbox Live Arcade this Spring. Space Ark will also be coming out for the PC and PSN later down the line.
