Lost Orbit’s robot buddy is named Atley ‘Null’ Probe. That’s right: A. Null Probe
Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity
LOW-COST IN SPACE ALEX SPENCER
PUBLISHER PIXELNAUTS / DEVELOPER PIXELNAUTS / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £8.39/$9.99
well for a speed boost. The screen
wraps around like an old-school
arcade game, meaning that if you
steer far enough left, you’ll pop back
out on the right – which is very handy
if you want to avoid larger obstacles.
As you progress, Lost Orbit picks
up the pace, going from gentle
space odyssey to a white-knuckle
thrill ride. The game is constantly
evolving, introducing new obstacles
to dodge – spinning blades, laser
turrets and cannons – as well as more
helpful features. There are pulsars
that you bounce off like a pinball
bumper, liquid planets that slow you
down, wormholes that teleport you to
another part of the screen... there’s
always a new wrinkle in time and
space to discover.Perfect fit
Lost Orbit’s campaign never gets
boring, partly because it doesn’t have
a chance to. There are around 50
levels, which can be blasted through
in about three or four hours. But the
game is priced appropriately – less
than the cost of a cinema ticket – andAhh, the majesty
of space. The glint
of distant stars,
the movement of
heavenly bodies... the
almighty crash when
you misjudge a barrel roll and splat
into a planet’s surface. Lost Orbit is a
self-described dodge-’em-up about
an astronaut whose ship explodes,
leaving him stranded in deep space.
It’s like Gravity, if Sandra Bullock was
a chunky little cartoon man.
It all starts out rather serene – a
floaty space odyssey with twinkly
music and a mysterious narrator
who sounds like a podcast host but
turns out to be an AI probe. Gradually,
though, more and more abilities come
online: a sideways dodge, a bomb
to wipe out incoming asteroids, and
most important of all, your jet pack’s
thrusters. Yes, you could just float
along, but there’s a big accelerator
right there on the trigger. Who are you
to resist it, eh?
The game encourages it, too,
ranking your prowess at the end
of each level. You’re scored on the
amount of collected ‘Obtanium’ – the
resource used to unlock new abilities
- as well as how many times you
went splat and, of course, speed of
completion. The levels are snack-
sized, a couple of minutes at a sprint,
so it’s tempting to go back and try to
beat your own time, or perfectly dodge
every single bit of space junk the
game can throw at you.
To get the fastest times, you’ll have
to exploit every little trick you can. You
can orbit a ringed planet to refill your
fuel gauge, or just kiss their gravity
it’s a nice change to play a game
which tells its story, shows you all its
ideas and gets off the stage.
If you are really desperate to
squeeze every ounce of value out
of Lost Orbit, then this Terminal
Velocity edition is packed with extra
bits and pieces – including time
trial and challenge versions of the
existing levels, and an epilogue with
all-new content. But honestly, it
feels unnecessary. The base game
tells a simple story of an unlikely
friendship between man and machine,
and of surviving against the odds –
everything else feels tacked on.
There’s clearly a bigger budget at
play in the epilogue, which features
more polished cutscenes and gives
your astronaut a voice for the first
time, but this only serves to dampen
the charm of the original story. It’s kind
of like the Jaws sequels which just
give you more of the shark. Sometimes
smaller is better, even in the vast
vacuum of space. Qshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
A bite-sized space
dodge-’em-up with
a charming, if
simple, story.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
An old-school arcade
shooter like Galaxian,
minus the shooting.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Budding astronauts,
AI befrienders and
speed demons.“It’s tempting
to go back and
try to beat your
own time”
OXM VERDICT
A short and sweet
space adventure- just don’t stick
around after the
credits roll.
8
RIGHT From time
to time, Lost
Orbit makes you
feel like a
small
insignificant
speck in the
universe – and
looks great
doing it.088 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
REVIEW