Costanza said:
Space Miner is fucking amazing. SO worth the $5.
I've pimped this a little bit, but judging by the lack of enthusiasm, I'm going to post a bit more about it, in case people are just brushing this off.
Space Miner (Appshopper link):
US$4.99
So what is it? It's part Asteroids (shooting), part Elite (upgrading), wrapped up in superb 3D graphics, great sound, and hilarious dialogue - pretty much top-notch presentation all 'round.
The premise is you have a spaceship, complete with the usual stats - speed, manoeuvrability, shields, defense, weapons slots and the like. You have a grid map that expands with more exploration. You enter a section and blast asteroids 'mining' for ore, which you get cash for to upgrade your ship.
It plays and controls extremely well. The inertia of your ship feels great, and you're able to very deftly swing your ship around a target to blast it. "But it's a virtual d-pad! - it's gotta suck!" Nope. It's actually more like a virtual paddle. It's a wheel. YOu actually feel like spinning it, and feels more natural than a D-pad. It runs smoothly (iPhone 3G) with very few hiccups (although there are occasional isolated incidents). There are also a few options such as flipping the side of the controller, or having the fire button toggle (very welcome).
The trading/upgrading part has a very progressive feel, reminiscent of Elite. Because what your are blasting turns into ore (picked up by a magnetic beam that is also upgradeable), which is directly related to money, what you are shooting is translated into upgrades. It's not like a simple "Meteor Blitz" like shooter, because the upgrades are involved with all aspects of your ship, including radar, speed, shields, size of cargo hold (which lessens the number of times you have to re-enter a sector to clear it out). The upgrades are all balanced by how much battery each upgrade uses, and the size of output your reactor can give. It works really well.
Thing is, it's not just shooting and upgrading. It's laid out like an adventure, with a few NPCs with well written, genuinely funny dialogue. Laid out within the adventure are a handful of sidequest-like missions, as well as finding random gadgets and upgrades that you can't buy. Enemies also litter each sector, and there are a few boss encounters.
The game on normal is not that challenging, but it has taken me 7 hours so far, and I'm just going through to 100% all the sectors before attempting the final level. I think it has rubbed off on me such that I will probably work my way through on hard.
While it's kind of short, it's super engaging and addictive. YOu'll set your sights on a particular upgrade, farming until you have the cash to buy it. Soon you have it, so you need to test it out. And then you have your eye on another. Or just to clear that sector over there. It's very compelling and hard to put down.
I say it's an example of one of those games that fully legitimises the iPhone as a gaming platform. It's not as long as some DS or PSP games, but it's $5 and feels very much like a full game from top to bottom. Think of it this way - you probably know what to expect somewhat from a title like this. Just take out the usual padding in this kind of game, and you get this distilled awesomeness.
I'm generally very wary of games. I play a lot and may praise the odd game very highly, but I normally restrain it to "if you like it". For example, I'm a huge fan of Angry Birds, but I do know some people don't like having to trial and error levels to get them right, so I admit it's not for everyone. Space Miners, however, I think has a very broad appeal, and is simple and easy to get into - it's very obvious how things work from the very beginning. This comes with my highest recommendation.