If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to float through space as a star, here’s your chance. Solar is an indie game on Xbox Live that allows you to guide your star through space and build your very own solar system. That’s it. There’s no story to follow. As you maneuver through the vacuum planets will succumb to your gravity and begin orbiting you. These planets can then use their gravity to pull in asteroids which can then be used to increase a planets size, and eventually sprout a colony of space fearing people.
The ships these people launch from the orbiting planets will protect you by attacking people from other planets you come into contact with. If you aren’t careful they’ll impede your growth by blasting asteroids. By doing so you aren’t able to pull them in and advance a planet through its different stages of progression. It is possible to become a black hole, it’s hard, but it’s definitely doable.
As I’ve never actually been in space or taken a ride on the vomit comet I can’t attest to how gravity affects things in the void. But if I were to make a bet as to how good Solar is at mimicking the affect gravity has on objects, I’d put most of my money on it being fairly accurate. When you attract an asteroid with your planet it starts to draw closer. As it draws near you can maneuver in such a way that it shoots off in another direction, possibly into one of your planets, or a neighboring enemy system. When doing so it actually feels like I’m pulling that asteroid close. I feel as if I need to pull my controller in the other direction to offset the attraction. It’s a weird feeling.
As I mentioned before, there is no story to follow. You can play the game in free form mode or complete challenges. The challenges range from “Find the edge of the universe” to “Become a black hole and devour everything.” My favorite is the “Find the beginning of everything” challenge. It’s a great game to kill time with. The game features one song that helps to set the mood. I find the best time to play is when waiting on friends to get online or late at night when I’m tired.
Solar is 80 Microsoft points and can be added to your download queue here.