developer DM Media , Dark Computer Entertainment Ltd.
Publisher KISS ltd, Funbox Media Ltd
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Terra Lander – Review
Twenty levels, increasingly difficult, timed challenges, all these things are what define Terra Lander. Less is more, seems to be the motto of the game. The whole game, as less fuel is less maneuverability and even less defence. Fire up the engines and use the thrusters and your general knowledge of physics to make it to the landing platform.
Story
The story is rather simple in Terra Lander. You are the ship and you have to make it to a landing spot. You can fill in the blanks. Either you’re a human trying to make it to the landing spot on an alien planet or the other way around, an alien on our planet. You won’t be driven to finish the game for story reasons.
Sound
Classic music helps you achieve the task at hand. Though soothing at first, after having failed several times to pass a hurdle, the music starts to become annoying. The sounds of your cannon aren’t at all innovative, and when you die the game flat out insults you and your skills and even your general knowledge of physics. The first couple of times this might make you snicker, but after hearing it over and over again it gets rather repetitive.
Graphics
What is special about Terra Lander’s graphics is that the creators have only used straight lines. Trees, fuel depots, turrets and even the landscape are all straight lines. When you start shooting things the screen becomes a colourful mess. Nothing too distracting or nauseating, but just enough to fill you with glee at the sight of this explosive onslaught. The compass leads you to the general area of your quest and your fuel levels are displayed above the minimap.
Gameplay
Terra Lander is all about making it to the landing spot. This is a simple premise, but the game doesn’t make it easy, at least not too easy. The tutorial has been hidden in the start up screen and flashes up every now and then. Seeing as how this is a necessity to know how to play the game, it would be nice to be able to flick the screens to read up without being interrupted every time you try to know what you have to do. If you get to the second level without reading the tutorial, you might miss the fact that you are able to shoot. Firing consumes fuel, so if you aren’t careful, you’ll run out of fuel and will be unable to steer your craft. You’ll need your cannon to fire at turrets that want to take you down and at fuel depots to replenish your stock and make it to the landing platform. In later levels you’ll have to shoot down trees to make it to your objective.
The maps aren’t all that big but what’s fun about it them is that the borders loop you back to the other edge of the screen without causing you to lose momentum. Once you make it to the higher levels and have shot down enough turrets and fuel depots, caused massive deforestation and have used up all of your lives, of which you have five, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to claim your fame by putting your name on the high score. The high scores aren’t all that impressive and the top spot can be claimed extremely easily, undermining the whole use of the ‘high scores’.
If you’ve been downed, or rather, when you’ve been downed and have burned through your five lives you can either start all over again, or start on the last level you’ve unlocked. Doing so will set you back three lives and you’ll have to make do with the last two. This gives you a way to explore the upcoming levels whilst still penalizing you for taking the easy way out.
Control wise, the game is straightforward. WASD or the arrow keys control your ship. It is a shame, however, that you can’t change the controls: as some keyboards aren’t QWERTY, it would be nice to be able to change it to AZERTY settings. Therefore, the latter will have to make do with the arrow keys. Firing is done with the left mouse key and aiming is a bit of a hassle, as you have no indication of where the nuzzle of your gun is aimed at.
Alongside the limited fuel your ship has, there’s also a time limit, so you’ll have another thing to pay attention to. Not always will you be able to take your time and sightsee, sometimes you’ll have to press on to make it in time.
Conclusion
A fun little game that uses what it has, which isn’t a lot, to make the best out of it. A little over five euros/dollars, this game gives you twenty levels of increasing difficulty, which is a fair price for what the game offers.
Terra Lander - Review,
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