The possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1.
Tonight isn’t only the biggest release night of 2015, it’s also the mobile app equivalent of Celebrity Deathmatch. On one hand we have space opera, and the other hard sci-fi. Let’s start with our first competitor, Sid Meier.
Sid Meier’s Starships is the latest from the acclaimed developer, this one set in the same universe as Civilization: Beyond Earth. It’s a bit of a Civilization game, but also has tactical combat and quests. It has a cool “shore leave” mechanic, where you get to keep doing stuff on your turn but your crew will continue to get less and less effective until you give them shore leave, and then your opponents get their chance.
Not sure I really need to say much more about this one. It’s Sid Meier with an original 4X game that you can have on your iPad. If you’re still not convinced, go read Owen’s preview. I’m still angry that he’s had a chance to give this one a try already.
There doesn’t appear to be any links available for this one yet, but we know it will be $15 when it does hit the App Store either tonight or tomorrow.
Head after the break to see who’s in the other corner.
Sid’s main competitor tonight is none other than the astronaut with the coolest name, Buzz Aldrin. Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager puts you in the shoes of the Director of either the US or Soviet space program in the 1950’s and tasks you with beating the other side to the moon. Well, that’s just one of the campaigns. The other one puts you in charge of the fictional Global Space Administration, which gives you access to all countries’ spacecraft while having to meet budget and do whatever else it is that directors of such administrations do. There is also a sandbox mode if you just want to play around and shoot off rockets, and who doesn’t?
Of course, Buzz Aldrin was present during development to make sure the science made sense, so we’re talking about some pretty hard sci-fi, here. Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager will be available tonight for $10 and for iPad and Android tablets.
Last on the list is Card Crawl, a little dungeon-crawler card game that I’ve had the pleasure of toying around with since last week. Card Crawl consists of a deck of 54 cards, 49 of which are the same every game you play. The other five cards are powers that you can mix and match within the deck, but only after you unlock them. You start with five powers, and will slowly unlock other ones that make you wonder how you managed without them.
Card Crawl is a very fun game, but don’t go into this thinking you’re getting a dungeon crawl. The theme is there, but this game more closely resembles Klondike or Free Cell than Thunderstone. That’s not a bad thing, there’s something relaxing about thinking your way through a solitaire puzzle that, due to randomness, might not be solvable. You can also churn through a game really quickly, easily in under 5 minutes.
You play for gold, but you only get to keep your gold if you manage to go through all 54 cards. Don’t be alarmed by the in-app currency, though. It’s only used to unlock cards, and earning the gold by making your way through the dungeon is satisfying rather than feeling like a grind. My official review should be up by the end of the week.
Card Crawl is for iOS Universal and will run you a Jefferson.
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