Game review: New Orbit

I've always been a big fan of games that simulate inertia - there's something intrinsically satisfying about manipulating objects in an accurately modelled environment.

For such an under-the-radar title, New Orbit has production values that belie the small team. The graphics are perfect, small ships and asteroids against a black background with a refreshing lack of clutter.

But it's the controls that raise this title above anything else I've played on Android or iOS this year.

All it takes is a finger touch to point your ship and thrust in any direction. Hold your finger longer, you thrust longer. Small lines emanating from your ship grow and change direction: the lines represent thrust, velocity and gravitational fields.

Those gravitational fields are the crux of the game - there are many asteroids and planets scattered about, each of which has its own unique gravitational field, velocity and rate of spin. You may be tasked with orbiting a particular planet, so you have to approach carefully, then alter your velocity and direction as you "feel" the gravitational field increase on your approach. There are nine missions in the game. Some take quite a few replays to nail down but some are a little easier.

There's an extra level, "Playground", which lets you loose in a very complicated area and tasks you with picking up objects, orbiting various bodies and docking with some very tricky space ships.

New Orbit

From: Blackish

For: iOS, Android

Review courtesy of Fatso