I love me some cheap games. I legitimately made two columns just because I impulsively wanted to purchase some games under five bucks, and I adore being frugal after the holidays. Fred Wood’s Pulstario was recently released last month, and while unwieldy controls can be a downer for some, this is a 99 cent title that’s great for those wanting a fun little game to replay over and over again.

Pulstario is a space platformer where you control a spaceship in order to collect souls (kind of like coins, but the developer has said these were as such) and move on to the next level. While a playthrough will last under 30 minutes (I beat it in around 21), there are tons of things to unlock in the form of in-game achievements and rewards. You control the ship by holding the ZR or a face button, and can activate a slow-mo ability using L or R. Should you hit a barrier or projectile, you’ll be sent to the beginning of the stage, though you won’t have to retread your steps to collect the floating souls. That’s all there is to Pulstario, but underneath the simplicity lies something else entirely.

Affordable Space Adventures is the smartest use of the Wii U’s GamePad to date. A player’s ability to get through the game is largely dependent on using the GamePad. It is this creative use of the GamePad that makes the game such a compelling adventure. Pristine Track Record. You’ve always wanted to go into space. Affordable Space Adventures (Wii U) Review. Original Wii U eShop titles to date-Affordable Space Adventures is a bold and ambitious project.

The game is challenging but forgiving, with adjustable difficulties to cater to all audiences. You’ll want to try and play with the unlimited mode, which gives you unlimited lives with the ability to activate slow motion. If you really want to try a challenge, you can try and brave all the levels with 25 lives and no slow motion, and there are modes for speedrunners as well.

For a game that costs less than a buck, it’s surprisingly comprehensive with its play options. Aside from playing the game straight through, you also have a level select where you can practice your speedrunning skills, or even activate a YOLO mode where you only have one shot to complete any given level; fail, and you have to collect your souls from the beginning. There are a few bonus levels linked to achievements, as well as more ships with different color schemes. I think the addition of in-game achievements increases the replay value immensely, and for a game with less than an hour of content, lengthening the experience by incentivizing practice and dedication is neat.

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The biggest issue I have with Pulstario is probably the controls, which have the “frustratingly imprecise” thing for it. Piloting your ship is an exercise in patience, as it doesn’t feel like it’s going fast or slow enough depending on if you’re exerting your acceleration. I had to activate slow-motion for a bit due to the fact that I think that some level barriers have an unfair amount of edges and don’t allow for huge, sweeping motions.

There were times when I thought I had my course set, only to move my Joy-Con just a minuscule direction away from me, which caused my ship to hurtle into a wall. Later levels with moving architecture also fare pretty poorly, as it’s pretty difficult to maintain position when your ship just wants to go everywhere instead of staying put. Slow motion mitigates the unwieldy controls, but I think that the game would benefit from having a tighter control scheme.

Another fault of the game would be the pixel presentation, which looks a bit muddled in terms of visuals. It doesn’t make the game run worse or anything, but there were times where the experience felt generic rather than dazzling. (If you want an example of how a limited palette and pixel style can work in a game’s favor, check out my review of Switch N’ Shoot). The music is a nice mix of atmospheric tracks, and while it’s not something I would desire to buy outside of the game, I think it works for what it’s worth.

While frustrating to control and a little rough around the edges in terms of presentation, a neat progression system and great replay value make Pulstario is a nifty little Switch title that is worth your dollar.

PROS

• Great selection of modes for players of all skill levels
• A great in-game achievement system with tons of unlockable items

CONS

• Controls are unwieldy
• Visual presentation is underwhelming

System: Wii U (eShop)Release: April 9, 2015Developer: KnapNok Games & Nifflas GamesPublisher: KnapNok GamesAuthor: PatrickI have to confess, I’m not a fan of the Wii U’s GamePad. For a peripheral that comes with every console, very few games have justified using this massive tablet over a more conventional controller. Sure, off-TV play is great and some of the early releases like ZombiU and Game & Wario provided a nice taste of what the controller was capable of, but the GamePad as a whole smacks of wasted potential. Thankfully, next week sees the eShop release of Affordable Space Adventures, a planet-exploring puzzle game that promises to put the GamePad to good use. If any studio can use this pricey controller effectively it’s developer KnapNok Games, who previously published Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party, one of the few titles that did use the GamePad in interesting ways to create an quirky co-operative experience.

Chalice of opulence. Joining them in this collaboration is game designer Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren, who has produced several moody games based around exploration including Knytt Underground. These two European studios both have very different styles, so how well do they mesh and deliver on their promise that the game “truly utilizes the potential of the Wii U”?Affordable Space Adventures sees players taking off in a Small Craft for what the UExplore company promises to be a relaxing, side-scrolling journey through the planet of Spectaculon. It’s not hard to see how the planet got its name; the voyage across the planet covers an imaginative range of environments from vast canyons to snowfields. Each location looks fantastic and it’s partially due to the lack of any Heads Up Display obscuring the action onscreen.

Instead, there’s a “Heads Down Display” on the GamePad, which is essential for maneuvering the Small Craft and serves as the game’s big hook.While the analog sticks handle moving the ship and scanning objects, just about every other function is located on this lower screen. It’s easy to control the output of the ship’s thrusters with a quick tap of the screen, but not so simple once the lower screen ends up covered in icons. Though the journey starts out straightforward, the game gradually introduces new puzzle-solving functions like controlling the ship’s mass to push larger objects or enabling stabilizers to get through tight spaces. Quickly manipulating these functions is essential once the difficulty ramps up, so thankfully some of the GamePad’s buttons serve as shortcuts. Eventually there’s a second engine type to switch between, then the ability to manipulate the ship’s temperature, different landing gear and more. Sounds overwhelming? It absolutely is, but the progression of introducing each new function, having the player understand what it does and then exploit it by using it to solve puzzles is smooth and satisfying.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having full mastery over the whole ship and its massive range of devices.Even if these complex controls end up being a bit overwhelming, the jobs onboard the craft can be split between other players with Wii remotes or Pro Controllers. Of course, this style of play comes with its own problems. When one player is in charge of moving the Small Craft while the other controls its functions, communication and co-operation is essential. This results in a local multiplayer mode that’s frequently chaotic but quite memorable.The surface of Spectaculon is covered in dangerous “artifacts” that stand in the Small Craft’s way. These obstacles can detect the ship’s heat, sound and electrical output, letting loose with a blast of electromagnetic energy or similarly deadly force if any of these three parameters trips its sensor. After most of the ship’s functions have been introduced, the bulk of the puzzle solving involves sneaking past these artifacts undetected. Scanning artifacts reveals their “line of sight” so there’s never any ambiguity over whether they can detect the ship; the real challenge comes from figuring which of the ships functions need to be disabled to safely pass them.

Some of the solutions are straightforward, like closing the ship’s ventilation to prevent heat from escaping, but others require thinking outside of the box and knowing exactly how much noise, heat and electricity each utility generates (hope you paid attention to the loading screens!). All of this information is shown on the GamePad, making it easy to track the output levels even if you need to take your eyes away from the main screen.The puzzles in Affordable Space Adventures are generally very well designed; though there’s typically only ever one solution, the game rewards thinking creatively. Though it requires steady piloting and aiming, Affordable Space Adventures most definitely isn’t an action game. Rushing is a good way to get your ship wrecked and it’s usually best to take your time in coming up with a solution. That said, there are plenty of stressful moments where players have to deal with unexpected incidents like the ship suddenly overheating or being grabbed strange tentacles.

The later parts of the game in particular thrive on making players uncomfortable by suddenly removing essential functions you’ve relied on for past puzzles.Getting past some obstacles requires a bit of trial and error, but the checkpoints are quite generous. Even after a “critical existence failure”, your ship takes very little time to recover, usually close to whatever artifact caused its destruction. While the checkpoints are very frequent, the save points don’t seem to make a lot of sense.

I was under the assumption that the game saved after every level, but there were several occasions where I’d quit the game, return and find that I’d lost a chunk of progress. Even if the save points aren’t at the end of each level, it’d be nice to have some indication of when the game is being saved. Ultimately the levels are so short that it’s just a minor annoyance, though, and the kind of thing that can be patched in (if it isn’t just my imagination).Spectaculon has a great atmosphere and it’s thanks to the detailed environments and the use of lighting. Often the only source of light comes from the Small Craft’s scanner, which creates suspense since there’s no way to know what’s lurking in the shadows. It’s all very creepy in a G-rated kind of way. Also unnerving is the game’s soundtrack, which is usually quite low-key but that just makes it even more frightening when an artifact loudly activates.

As nice as the locations look, they are pretty empty and while this adds to the feeling of isolation I wish they did a better job of showing why the planet was abandoned and where all these deadly technology came from. I’ll certainly remember the game for the puzzles, not the environments.But then the narrative isn’t really the focus of Affordable Space Adventures. Aside from a few brief cutscenes between levels there isn’t a whole lot of story to deal with and it’s probably for the best.

Nifflas’ gloomy environments and the quirky humour of KnapNok Games don’t quite mix. That might have been the intention, but the odd juxtaposition between exploring desolate landscapes and the story of UExplore’s corporate incompetence didn’t do much for me.The ending is also a bit abrupt, even if has some neat Miiverse integration.

It took me about five hours to clear all the levels and fully explore Spectaculon, which felt a bit on the short side. To the game’s credit, the whole experience is well paced and never really runs out of new mechanics to mess around with, but the price tag is fairly high for an eShop game. Ultimately whether or not these space adventures are actually “affordable” is up to the player. For a game based around exploration, the progression is disappointingly linear and it could have used some sort of incentive for players to replay the game and explore the levels more thoroughly.

That said, the gameplay itself is so unique that I’ll likely revisit it along with a couple of co-pilots.The VerdictA “thumbs up” rating means that, at the end of the day, the game in question succeeded at what it was trying to do. If the concept and style appeal to you, it’s absolutely worth playing.The recommendation?Affordable Space Adventures isn’t the best puzzle game on the Wii U, but it’s an intriguing experiment that’s worth checking out. It lacks the seemingly endless content of Pushmo World, the story of The Swapper and the production values of Captain Toad, but what it does have is a brilliant control scheme that makes use of the GamePad in creative ways. Though the journey is brief and linear, it’s packed with brilliant puzzles that push players to think creatively in figuring out how to best use the range of tools at their disposal. If you’re after a showcase for the Wii U GamePad, this is it.