February 2022 • Macworld 55ending up with significantly different
outcomes and endings.
- J.U.L .I.A. Among The Stars
Price: £14.99 from fave.co/31P4UJG
We missed J.U.L .I.A. Among The
Stars first time around, when it was
originally launched as a relatively
simple puzzle game for iOS devices.
However, the iOS version isn’t around
any more – the tale of CBE’s travails
with its original publisher is an epic
all by itself – and the current version
of the game has been updated and
expanded into a more complex
adventure game for Macs and
Windows PCs.
You play Rachel Manners, an
astrobiologist who is part of a mission
sent to a newly discovered solar
system that shows signs of intelligent
life. But as
your ship
approaches
its destination
you are woken
from cryogenic
sleep to
discover that
the ship has
been damaged
and that the
rest of the
crew are dead.
That leaves you on your own to repair
the ship and then to uncover the
mysteries of this new solar system.
Although J.U.L .I.A. is an adventure
game, it has a wider scope than many
traditional adventures. Instead of
simply wandering from room to room
and using the standard point-and-
click control system to manipulate
objects, the game also allows you to
interact with J.U.L.I.A. – the ship’s
built-in artificial intelligence – and
to control Mobot, a reconnaissance
droid that can be sent down to explore
the planet below. You can also use
your computer systems to examine
the solar system around you, to
upgrade Mobot, or make repairs to
your ship. And, of course, there’s the
central search for alien life that keeps
the plot moving forward, eventually3.