Lithium Leaf

Link: http://www.orb-games.com/

Stardrone is a arcade-puzzle game by independent developer Orb Games. You take control of a drone and make your way through 53 stages with varying mission objectives. It entered the 2008 Independent Games Festival competition.

The gameplay of the game is rather unique, and gave me a hard time when I had to classify this game. You have almost no direct control over your drone, except at the begining of each level, where you choose in which direction you would like to be blasted towards. To change your direction and speed, you have to hook up to anchors using a light beam by clicking the left mouse button. You will orbit around them till you release the button. It takes some time to get used to. But the first few levels serve as tutorials.

The main aim in each stage is to light up stars, this is done by getting close enough to them. Most stage's sobjective is to light up all stars. Not always, though, sometimes you will be required to reach a goal line, kill a certain number of enemies, or obtain a certain number of gem pieces and take them to a certain place. But you will find stars in all stages, since they are used to gain points and if you gain enough you will go on to "pain" mode and your drone will grow spikes, this allows you to kill enemies without getting damaged. If you light up stars in a short period of time your combo level will inctrease and you will be awarded more points. The same happens with enemies. At the end of each level your score is submitted to the leaderboard and if it is high enough, you may be awarded a medal.

This is a gameplay video of Stardrone from Orb Game's site:

As I previously stated. The game starts off with tutorial levels, which introduce the player to the game's mechanics, enemies and mission types, and are easy to clear. The stages gradually get both more difficult and larger and take more time to complete. Although as you progress throught the game more objects, enemy types and mission objectives are introduced to keep the game varied. There is a total of 53 stages. As stages get larger the number of stars per stage also increases. Thankfully at the left hand side bottom corner of the screen you have a map, which seems useless at the first stages, but becomes a need as you progess to locate all stars and find out if you left any behind.

The stages are nicely designed and the inclusion of the medal and leaderboard systems increases their replayability. You are sometimes required to have a great ammount of precission and at first you will find yourself helplessly bouncing off walls. But later on controlling the drone will become natural.

The graphics are very detailed and well done, Stardrone is a colourful game and I particularly like light effects and the drone's rainbow trail. However there is not much variation between stages, and the visuals might become repetitive. The same thing happens with the music.

In conclusion, Stardrone's strongest points is it's unique gameplay and good level design. Although the inclusion of a level editor would have sealed the deal. It is still a very fun game to play.

Stardrone retails at varying prices. Check Orb Games' site for info.