Solar 2 (PC)
Platform: PC
Developer: Murudai
Publisher: Murudai
Genre: Other?
Release date: June 17, 2011
Metacritic: 72
What is it: Explore the galaxy, absorb asteroids and planets, grow into a solar system, and… well, that’s about it.
0:00 - I’m liking this already. How many games start with the big bang, followed by saying “Welcome to the universe”? Not enough.
0:02 - You begin as a small asteroid. You fly around the universe and grow by slamming into other asteroids. It’s an open world Katamari Damacy on a cosmic scale. Awesome.
0:05 - I try my first mission and almost immediately crash into a star, killing me. Gravity is a bitch.
0:08 - Keep growing and you level up to different types of planet. Just became large enough to support life. Now I have little ships that surround me, blowing up anything that might threaten me. Again, awesome.
0:13 - First mission completed. The god narrator instructs me to go to a certain point in the galaxy, but without getting hit. Not too challenging, but it is a starting mission.
0:15 - “Here is a planet full of skunks. I need you to exterminate it.” Yes sir, god narrator!
0:20 - It’s an entirely different kind of game, but Solar 2 has the same appeal as Civilization IV. It’s a bit slow to build up, but constantly growing and working towards the next level makes for a compelling experience.
0:22 - I fight off a bunch of attacking ships. “You have such sexy beaches,” the god narrator comments. “No wonder they want to settle on you.” How unsettling.
0:25 - A bit more growing and I’ve turned into a small star. Sucks for the life on me. Now I can get planets to orbit me, and asteroids to orbit those planets. Nice.
0:35 - The difficulty of missions really ramp up quickly the larger you get. Last missions had me fighting off waves of alien attackers which I was, in no way, prepared for. It was not pretty.
0:50 - There’s really not much more to say about this game. You fly around, get new planets, grow, and complete missions. That’s it so far. It’s nothing remarkable, but it’s a passable time waster.
0:51 - Okay, scratch that, now the mission markers aren’t showing up anymore. Did I get too big for the missions or is it a glitch? Either way, lame.
1:00 - Yep, nothing’s changed in the last 10 minutes. Ah well.
Will I play it again: Probably not. The game starts out strong but doesn’t really develop that well beyond the first 30 minutes, resulting in dull repetition.
