PSP Minis Review - Blast Off!

One of the latest PSP Minis by Halfbrick Studios, Blast Off! puts players behind the helm of their own spaceship as they fly around the galaxy attempting to save lost astronauts while staying alive.

The premise behind Blast Off is a pretty simple one. You have been tasked to save stranded astronauts around the galaxy; to do this you must fly your spaceship around planets and bring them home. It might sound easy but there are a lot more than just planets that you have to worry about out there in space.

You start the game on easy and must unlock the other 3 difficulties. On easy you are introduced to the basics of your main enemy, gravity. Planets gravitational pull will pull you in and cause you to crash land, especially the bigger planets that have a more forecful gravitational pull. However gravity is not the only issue you must face as you have a limited amount of fuel to rescue the astronauts and on the other side they have a limited amount of air left. This is where the difficulty in the game comes in as you must manage your ships fuel while trying to fight off the planets pull and rescue the astronauts quickly. As you progress in difficulty the gravity will pull differently, creating new types of game play.

The controls of your ship take some getting used to as turning left on the analog stick actually turns your ship right. This causes a few moments of frustration as you turn your ship into a planet or you run out of fuel while taking a wrong turn. Other than these mishaps the controls work pretty solid and are enjoyable. You start off with your ship on a home planet and you rotate the direction you want to take off while also deciding how much power to put behind take off.

This is where the strategy and difficulty in the game really shine through as in each mission you need to pick your trajectory of take off, the power behind take off and then manage your fuel and the astronauts air all while trying to complete your mission. Its a good mix of strategy and fun gameplay that will frustrate you to no end but then provide a solid feeling of reward when you finally complete each mission.

Blast Off! is a game that you can lose yourself in while waiting for an oil change or sitting in an airport, but you most likely won’t find yourself playing it nonstop. However for the price of admission, $2.99, you can’t really beat it and with 68 total levels you definitely get your moneys worth of fun.