If Incandescent Workshop’s starship bridge simulator Artemis is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sleeping Beast Games’s Spaceteam is Galaxy Quest. While both games have the same premise, that the players are the bridge crew of a sci-fi movie-esque starship, the similarities end there.
Spaceteam feels like a combination of the 1980s flashing light game Simon, its slightly more modern pass-and-play cousin Bop It, and a cartoony sci-fi flight simulator. Each player’s screen represents one control panel on the ship’s bridge. In a possible nod to the 2009 Star Trek remake, your ship is attempting to outrun an exploding star. Technobabble-laden instructions flash at the top of the screen, and each player needs to set the controls on his or her panel accordingly for the ship to remain in flight and advance from level to level. Here’s the tricky part: the instructions on your screen may apply to your control panel or controls on your friends’ panels instead.
The game offers clever graphics, and the panels react to how well or poorly you perform in the game. If you miss enough prompts, sparks fly, and controls detach from the panel and dangle while exposed circuitry emits smoke. As the game progresses, the game adds a few wrinkles, like fading the writing on the control labels or having green slime leak and obscure your controls. (Here’s a pro tip, you can wipe away the slime by dragging across it with a finger, just like real life.) The game also takes advantage of the accelerometers that iPhones and iPads carry. Asteroids require everyone in your party to shake their devices, and wormholes require a flip.
Spaceteam is a great combination of fun and funny. The game takes the concept of sitting around and ignoring the people around you while you all poke at your smartphones and turns it on its ear. I could easily see playing this game with friends at a party, and yelling technobabble at my wife while she hollers back at me is absolutely hilarious. Of course, the game’s intransigence has led to exchanges like the following:
Activate the Repulsion Locator, honey. Activate the Repulsion Locator, please. ACTIVATE THE REPUL… oh, wait. That’s one of mine. Sorry! Asteroid! Shake!
The fully functional game is available for free on iTunes, with add-ons available as in-app purchases. Two to four players can play together on WiFi or Bluetooth. Sleeping Beast’s founder, Henry Smith, quit his job at BioWare to spend a year creating his own games. Spaceteam is his first release, and may well be the harbinger of more fun to come.
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