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TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Atomic Super Lander’

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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…

 

Atomic Super Lander

Crescent Moon and Bit Weird’s Atomic Super Lander ($2.99) sounds awesome on paper. A bit of Lunar Lander-style flying around, a bit of action platforming, and some roguelike elements peppered in for good measure. It sounded really cool right from the get-go. However, when Atomic Super Lander finally arrived this week, I was definitely taken by surprise with just how much I’m enjoying the game and how well all these elements blend together into one cohesive, humorous experience.

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Giant asteroids are threatening to crash right into your planet, destroying life as we know it. As part of a secret government program, you’re enlisted to be shot into space and land on these asteroids and blow them to bits before they have a chance to do any harm. Yes, this is the plot of Armageddon, but it totally works for a video game. You’re dropped off just outside the orbit of each asteroid, and must maneuver your ship down to the surface Lunar Lander-style. Once landed, you hop out and run around the asteroid looking for the blast points where you need to plant your nukes. After they’re armed, you head back to your ship, fly up to the drop ship, and blast the asteroid to smithereens from a nice, safe distance.

At least, that’s how things are supposed to go. During your mission you’ll have enemies and environmental hazards to contend with, as well as a limited supply of oxygen. And that spaceship of yours? That thing isn’t indestructible, you know. If it gets too beat up it can explode, leaving you stranded on an asteroid that you’re about to blow up. If you take to much damage yourself you’ll die, and they’ll have to send in a different astronaut to hopefully finish the job you were too inept to do. Danger is around every corner, and it only gets more difficult with each subsequent asteroid that you destroy.

Atomic Super Lander is a high-scoring game at heart, so you destroy as many asteroids as you can before running out of lives, and once you do, it’s game over. You can however unlock additional ships to fly by way of earning gears by spinning a slot machine game at the end of a level. Don’t worry, this isn’t a free to play game, so the whole slot machine thing is just there for fun.

There’s just something really fun about playing Atomic Super Lander. It’s a very floaty platformer, but you’re in space, so it works. It has a feeling of “controlled chaos" as your bounding around an asteroid, and the combat mechanics and urgency of trying to arm your nukes before the timer runs out adds a sense of excitement to the game. I’m really impressed with how well this turned out, and I’m sure Atomic Super Lander will be a game that lives a long, happy life on my iOS device.

  • Atomic Super Lander

    Touch Arcade's Game of the Week! Atomic Super Lander The doomsday is upon us. The Earth is about to be bombarded by an…
    TA Rating:
    $2.99
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