Here in the weeks leading up to Monday’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a number of lunar themed games have appeared in the App Store. Some are more interesting than others, but a couple stand out in particular.
Nimblebit’s Moon Drop [App Store] is an amusing little cartoonish game that challenges you to guide wave after wave of colonists, descending from space in lander pods, to a designated landing pad on the lunar surface.This is done by tapping / holding areas of the screen near the colonists; the pods will steer away from where you’re tapping. It’s a bit like herding, really — and the more colonists in the wave, the more out of hand the task becomes. The closer you land to the center of the pad, the higher the score, but miss the pad and it’s bye-bye colonist….
It’s a good game kept interesting by the challenge that increases from wave to wave.
See the developer’s gameplay video.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Link: Moon Drop, $0.99
J-Squared Software’s Lunar Module 3D [App Store] is a rather more realistic, less arcade-style lunar landing game than Moon Drop.Different from most games of the sort, it’s a 3D affair that presents a fairly accurate rendering of the lunar surface thanks to a shape-from-shading process run on actual lunar photos. The game challenges you to use tilt controls to navigate between multiple landing and refueling platforms arrayed about the actual Apollo 11, 14, 16, and 17 landing sites, along with the Tycho crater site.
Accompanying the slow-paced, low-gravity action across the desolate moonscape is an ethereal, new age soundtrack that makes the game a rather relaxing, almost zen-like experience.
Lunar Module 3D is currently being offered at a 50% off, introductory price of $0.99.
See the developer’s video.
App Store Link: Lunar Module 3D, $0.99
