Nothing brings about the sense of wonder like staring out into the stars and thinking of the infinite possibilities. Affordable Space Adventures gives this sense of exploration not seen in many games recently. Everything starts out mysterious and cloudy, as you figure out what in the original plan went wrong. What started as nothing more than a vacation to an unexplored planet, turned into a fight for survival when an ion storm destroys the mothership and with it the guarantee of a smooth excursion. The crash landing managed to destroy most of your ship’s systems, leaving you with nothing but an engine and a flashlight to start. Dangerous alien artifacts litter the caves to stifle your progress, but thankfully your ship is constantly repairing itself until its back to its fully functional self.
Isometric gameplay is taken to the extreme here as you spend most of the game jumping back and forth between the two screens. This can seem frantic but it manages to blend together fairly seamlessly. Everything you’d normally expect to clutter your HUD has been put on the Gamepad, leaving your TV to display the cavernous exploration beautifully. Difficultly ramps up in some sections, to the point where progression can feel like constantly hitting a brick wall. Still it’s that same frustration that makes the “ah-ha” moment even sweeter. No puzzle ever seems unbeatable either, as you’re piece-fed every tool you need. Seeing the next system to be repaired is both wonderful and dreadful as the puzzles increase in intricacy to match the functionality.
While the systems have similar uses between the two engine types, they have different situational uses. What strikes a difference between them are the energy they output, which can be sensed by nearby enemies. This is the bulk of the game but also feels like a missed opportunity. Whereas the player has a myriad of ways to solve, there’s only one solution for every puzzle. This would be a moot point if every system wasn’t a set of dials, so finding the sweet spot for every encounter can become tedious. The game doesn’t stick around much longer than that, clocking in at about 10 hours of gameplay without touching the multiplayer mode. I would almost say that playing with friends will be the main mode to play. Each added player takes responsibility off of the others which creates a wonderful team dynamic. I found this is best played with just 2 people though, as the third player’s role as a scientist can be a little boring in certain troublesome parts.
Affordable Space Adventures walks a fine line between frustrating puzzler and perfect brain teaser. A permeating sense of wonder definitely helps, even as some of the puzzles become increasingly difficult. This is one of the only games on the Wii U so far that I feel could not have been accomplished without the gamepad. Not only is the HUD position a wonderful idea I’d love to see replicated in the future, but the touch controls are implemented well without feeling forced. While it’s pretty short, the multiplayer adds more than enough replay value. It’s a love letter to space that didn’t overstay its welcome.