Game:

FTL: Faster Than Light (2012)

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For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Space Squad Survival from developers ‪@rebeltwinsgames‬ on my #iPhone 14 Pro.

I was quite excited to play Space Squad Survival. the screenshots and video on the App store reminded me of FTL: Faster Than Light, a PC game i've played but never finished.

the game starts explosively and the first thing i noticed is how weird the controls are. it certainly took a little bit of time to understand how it worked. all the while, the game's story is still going. when it came to stuff on our ship, the tutorial was simple but effective, perhaps lacking a reason why we're doing what we're doing. But when it came to the planet stuff, that first planet was a blur. the ship is talking to us, there was my shipmate and I trying to adjust to the controls, dodge what's attacking up, whilst there's a timer, and then the whole stage blew up. and wow, it's a lot to take in. i didn't really grasp what to do until by the end of the second planet we visit.

Quite quickly the loop of what's expected of us is revealed. we need to go to other planets to gather resources. we then use them on upgrading or building new elements on/in our ship. at the end of the video i discover there are other 300 stages, i only got to stage 5 in an hour. so there is a lot of content in the game.

Unfortunately, the game is too buggy for me to recommend right now. i encountered a game ending bug where i was stuck in the ship. the game forgot i had completed a stage by watching a video and by using gems so i lost the games and had to do it all over again with no compensation.

As these bugs effect gameplay, they will knock Space Squad Survival down the list of the best played games this year. but i still had fun playing it. perhaps the biggest surprise was how Space Squad Survival does adverts. there is an actual countdown to when the advert plays. that's absolutely fantastic and something i've been asking developers to do for years. and it's not just text on a screen, they've created art that fits the game's to tell us this. I cut out about 6 minutes of adverts from this video, but as the player it never really bothered me because of the game's approach to it.

I would recommend Space Squad Survival in it's current state. i think that there's enough to it and enough that works for it to be an enjoyable experience, i know i had one. at the very least, it's worth downloading now and checking update notes when they come out. it may not make the number 1 spot, but it could still make it into the top 5 of my free to play mobile game of the year awards just 'cause it's fun to play.

Version 1.0.06 Played.

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