LOST ORBIT Review

Indie publisher PixelNAUTS have brought gamers LOST ORBIT, the story of maintenance worker Harrison and his journey to get back home with the help of the friendly space droid Attlee. Playing as Harrison you find yourself stranded in space after something wipes out your ship and you have to find your way back to civilisation, all the while collecting ‘obtainium’ which you can use as a currency in the game to unlock abilities and upgrades. This fun action game is packed full of levels for you to make your way through in one piece and with so much going on onscreen with so many obstacles, the game never gets boring.

The general gameplay is not disappointing and each level is just different enough from the last to keep the game interesting. The controls are easy enough; they are basic controls you would expect from a game like LOST ORBIT, using the joystick to move left and right and holding X to move faster makes for an easy game to get used to and enjoyable to play as it’s not too complicated that you spend the first levels trying to get the hang of it. While I wasn’t a fan of how far Harrison moved each way whilst holding X, making him go much further than I’d meant for him too, it was simple enough to stop him doing that; just letting go of the X button which is something I initially forgot I could do to make him go slower.

The story was interesting to listen to and learn about while playing. It is told throughout the game from the point of view from your droid friend Attlee. He explains Harrison’s situation whilst you play and I think it’s a nice touch to have the story told to you while you play rather than having to watch cut scenes or read back story. Just having it being explained, and from the point of a character rather than an omniscient narrator, made the game much more entertaining for me.

The graphics were great to look at too. Every level has multiple layers to it, making them all aesthetically pleasing while you play through. It gives a lot more depth to the game and the colours are also great. The streams of light and just the range of different environments you’re greeted with in each level are beautiful to play through and the graphics as a whole are impressive, especially as this is an indie game.

The soundtrack works perfectly with the game itself. The music gives off a futuristic feel and has just enough of a ‘space-y’ dynamic without it sounding to cheesy and generic. There have been times where I have played games and ended up noticing that the levels of the music compared to the levels of the dialogue are not mixed as well as they could be and the music just overpowers the voice over or vice-versa but I felt that this game did both nicely.

Overall LOST ORBIT was fun to play and I expect I will end up playing again. It’s not the sort of game I normally play but it’s certainly given a good impression and makes me want to try some more games of a similar genre. If you’re interested in sci-fi or top-down type of games, this is definitely one that you’ll enjoy.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.