Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity – Review
Follow Genre: Action
Developer: PixelNAUTS Games
Publisher: PixelNAUTS Games
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC

Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity – Review

Site Score
8.0
Good: -Beautiful graphics and sound
Bad: -Sometimes challenging means frustrating
User Score
7.0
(2 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 7.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Have you ever had a flat tire on your bike as a child? In the age before the cellphone, you had to knock on doors until someone was home to make a phone call so your parents could come to pick you up. Ever had a flat tire on your car as an adult and no cellphone reception while in the middle of nowhere?

Story

It’s a regular day at the office for Harrison when he steps into his spaceship and heads out to the dark corners of space to repair a busted satellite. It’s not the best paying job or most rewarding job but Harrison is only a low-level maintenance guy in a big corporation. Upon arriving at the satellite and quickly examining it, disaster strikes and a meteorite destroys Harrison’s spaceship. Without a ship, the situation looks grim and Harrison has no choice but to start space walking if he wants to ever see civilization again. Luckily our hero is good at scavenging resources and home brewing gear.

After the nice opening story cinematic, the story is being told from the perspective of a droid that picks us Harrison’s signal and studies him from a distance. At regular intervals, he will shed light on current events from a droid point of view. This drives the story forward in a non-intrusive way and breaks the monotonous emptiness of space.

Graphics

Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity is played from a top-down perspective although it’s hard to say what is actually up in space. The game features very beautiful, colorful graphics. Space is not dull at all, various detailed objects float around, including asteroids, planets, satellites and various other scientific equipment. The background is very varied throughout the levels so it never gets boring visually. Harrison also looks distinct and contrasts well with the background, the effects of his jetpack are also very neatly done.

Sound

The game features an electronic upbeat soundtrack with a classic feel to it. The background sound is non-intrusive yet it does a phenomenal job to feed the atmosphere of loneliness. Sound effects are kept to a minimum yet this only adds to the absence of sound in space and fits the game perfectly. The voice acting of the droid narrator is also of good quality. Overall sound scores really high in this game.

Gameplay

Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity is a top-down Sci-Fi survival scrolling game. Looking at the control scheme of a game can usually give you a good impression of the complexity of a game. This game has a very limited amount of controls. You can play the game with a keyboard or a controller. The game feels a bit more fluent with a controller but this mostly comes down to personal preference. As for most scrolling games, movement is the most important aspect of Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity.

To progress in the game you should keep moving towards the top of the screen, there is no auto-scroll and if you want you can also move back down for a little while. You can move off screen on the left or right and you’ll pop back up on the other side. When you are close to a side, an arrow will indicate where you will pop up on the other side if you decide to go off screen. Another way to avoid obstacles is to perform a barrel roll. This will come in handy sooner than you might expect. While the first level just shows you the ropes, it gets much more difficult from then on. Big asteroids, rotating lasers, and cannons will block your way home.

Sometimes you’ll need to pick up speed, luckily there are two ways of doing this. First of all, you have your trusty jetpack. The jetpack will boost your speed while you have it engaged and as long as you have fuel. Fuel can be gathered from orbiting the various planets your encounter during the level. While you are orbiting a planet, you are automatically being steered in circles around the planet, hitting the jetpack will allow you to break free from the gravitational pull and send you back on your way.

On your way through the level, you can collect glowing crystals. Collecting more crystals will not only increase your overall score of the level, but it will also allow you to buy some upgrades. The upgrade system is not very extensive. It might even feel a little underwhelming. A big part of the upgrades revolves around the jetpack. Besides the jetpack, the more interesting ability is to be able to create bombs and blow some of those pesky obstacles out of the way.

Along the way, you’ll pass checkpoints that save your progress. In the event of your untimely death, you’ll be able to choose between restarting the level or loading your last checkpoint. There doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of times you can die during a level, it just has a negative impact on your overall score once you complete the level. You can endlessly replay the levels to get a better score or get a faster time. This will surely appeal to the speed run fanatics out there.

Conclusion

Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity is a top-down Sci-Fi survival scrolling game with beautiful graphics and excellent sound. The story is rather basic but relatable. If you’re looking for a simple, yet challenging game, you should give this one a spin. Bonus points if you’re into speedrunning.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 7.0/10 (2 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity - Review, 7.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings
Rex


I am an Illustrator/Artist who studies Concept Art and Game Design in my free time. Designing things is in my blood and I am always very curious in making games. Motivated and dedicated to become better in every way I can. You only live once and I intend to fully enjoy it! As for gaming itself I do prefer to play the following games: FPS, RPG, Action Adventure Games, Fighting Games, Hack and Slash.

No Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.