The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.
These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
Space Expedition: Classic Adventure
This week, our pick for Game of the Week is definitely an under the radar title, and in fact it slipped by our weekly roundup of new games. However, it’s garnered quite a bit of interest and praise in our forums which brought it to my attention, and now after having played it, I can safely say this isn’t a game you want to miss. It’s called Space Expedition: Classic Adventure (Free), which is just about as generic a name as you can get, but don’t let that fool you. This is one hell of an atmospheric and entertaining game.
In describing Space Expedition, I want to call it a Metroidvania, but that’s not totally accurate. It’s not really a big, open area that you traverse back and forth as you slowly unlock access to new areas, but it does utilize that same “obtain new item/ability that lets you access something previously inaccessible" mechanic that Metroidvanias are famous for. It’s just a lot more linear. However, it does give me a heavy Metroid vibe just in terms of atmosphere. The world of Space Expedition is creepy, dark, surprising and sometimes a bit unsettling. Mechanically, Space Expedition is a puzzle platformer, and you’ll spend your time exploring an alien planet and discovering bits of story along the way.
One thing worth mentioning, especially in light of the recent Monument Valley drama, is that Space Expedition is a short game. Like, you’ll probably beat it in less than an hour. There are two different endings though, based on if you collect all of the hidden gems in each level or not, but there’s no getting around the fact that this is a brief experience. It’s a fan-freaking-tastic brief experience, but brief all the same. Whether an hour or two of fantastic entertainment is worth three bucks or not is up to you, but personally I don’t mind shorter games that I know I can finish in a sitting or two, or easily replay a few times. My backlog is already big enough, you know?
Anyway, I don’t want to say too much more about it as it’s best experienced on your own, but if you like the look of Space Expedition based on the trailer above or what I’ve described so far, I’d definitely recommend checking it out. This is truly the type of sleeper hit that makes me love iOS gaming so much.
