Review: Kometen
This week's iOS app review is a game called Kometen, which was programmed by Erik Svedäng, with art and music by Niklas Åkerblad. Erik is most well-known for his game Blueberry Garden, which won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2009 Game Developer's Conference. I was initially drawn to try Kometen based on Erik's reputation, as well as the game's whimsical art direction.
The premise of Kometen is that you control a comet, and set out to explore the universe. The universe of Kometen contains many planets, which you can orbit by tapping them. Swiping the screen will disengage you from orbiting a particular planet, and you'll speed off in a straight line. You can't just travel infinitely, however; your comet has a boost meter, which gets depleted a little bit each time you leave the orbit of a planet. Fortunately, many planets have edible rings, made up of bits of food, which you can eat to recharge. When your boost meter is full, you can swipe across the whole screen to travel at light speed for a short time. Your goal is to fully explore the universe, which entails discovering a number of hidden planets. Tapping your comet will bring up a map, which helps you navigate. The map shows you planets you haven't yet discovered; tapping one will bring up a navigation arrow on the game screen, which continually points in the direction of your destination.
I really found myself enjoying the mechanics of the game, as well as the art and music. From what I understand, all the art was painted in watercolor on paper, then scanned into the game. The music, while a bit repetitive, is pretty good, and fits in well with the game's mood. The touch controls are also very well thought out — the taps and finger swipes used to move your character feel very natural. From a production standpoint, I was also impressed; the whole game is put together very well.
After playing for a while, however, I kinda got bored. The goal of the game is exploration, and to gain satisfaction from interacting with and traveling to different planets. While that's fun for a while, I soon get bored without more concrete goals. When you travel to a new, hidden planet, the only benefit you get is to see some cool, unique artwork, and to have that planet revealed on your mini-map. Once you get tired of looking at the art, there's not much else that is very compelling from a gameplay standpoint. For me, a game is fun if the player can compete against something, whether that's trying to beat a difficult level, or best a high score, or whatever. Kometen just doesn't have enough gameplay to keep me coming back.
★★★☆☆ — Kometen on the App Store (Affiliate Link)
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