The Last Rocket review

The very last place you’d expect to direct your sympathies in the event of nuclear disarmament: those poor little warheads. Shaun Inman’s iOS game The Last Rocket evokes precisely such a response, however, placing you in control of an adorable missile named Flip. Every time his tiny pixelated eyes blink open and shut, a small royalty fee might as well get deposited in Nintendo’s bank account. Just because investors have been pressuring Iwata and company to port Nintendo titles to iOS devices doesn’t mean the iOS platform is currently devoid of the publisher’s DNA. The Last Rocket conjures the Game Boy Color’s pixilation and cartoonish charms with the skill of a practiced understudy.

“Intergalactic war is over,” the opening text scrawl announces just moments before a solar flare rocks the starship on which Flip has been assembled. Having been made redundant from his job of destroying worlds, Flip unexpectedly finds himself in a more productive line of work. He agrees to help AMI, the ship’s onboard Autonomous Mechanical Intelligence – a name that sits in cheerfully polysyllabic counterpoint to Flip’s nickname – collect her scattered memory gears so the two of them can escape the doomed ship.

Each micro-level Flip traverses on his way through the ship fits comfortably within the rectangular frame of your iOS display. And even though AMI has enlisted your help in collecting the gears scattered across each level, players are free to navigate their way directly toward each exit without paying them any mind. The game offers an achievement for collecting 100 per cent of the gears, and there’s a separate achievement for collecting less than 25 per cent, which is far trickier than it sounds, as many of the gears lay squarely on your flight path.

While games like Angry Birds can be nudged toward 100 per cent completion with enough luck and repetition, Inman devised a clever twist to force players to hone their skill and consistency if they hope to accomplish a similar feat. When Flip lands on the surface directly in front of an exit, its doors automatically yawn open and swallow him up, sending you along to the next level without the option to replay the one you’ve just left. As a result, players must be wary of reaching the end of the level without having collected every last gear. A swipe of the index finger along the angle of the surface you’re on causes Flip to do a little sidestep, which can help you avoid the exit doors before you’ve finished scooping up all the level’s sprockets.

Two of The Last Rocket's levels

The Last Rocket’s touchscreen gestures are elegantly straightforward – simply tap anywhere on the screen to send Flip blasting off his current surface. If you tap before he reaches the opposing wall – many of which are covered in deadly spikes VVVVVV-style – he does the swivelling, mid-air equivalent of an Olympic swimmer reversing direction at the pool’s wall. Since you’re unable to execute 90-degree-angle turns mid-flight, you must rely on environmental help in the form of air vents. If your flight path takes you into a vent blowing headlong, its force will cancel out Flip’s momentum and leave him hovering. From this holding pattern, you can swipe your finger to send him in a new direction. Hold your finger on the screen while Flip is stationary and he crouches down, a stance that proves necessary when squeezing through tight spots while docked on a moving platform.

The Last Rocket’s difficulty ramps up at a satisfying clip, and toward the final stages, will test your brain and precision tapping reflexes with tantalising sternness. The game’s excellent chiptune soundtrack offers plenty of incentive to wedge in earbuds, and the vibe remains just cheery enough to keep you from rage-quitting on the most unforgiving stages. Though skilled players will blast through the game in less than an hour, the impulse to master its mechanics lures you back for repeat playthroughs. That suction will only increase when Inman’s next update delivers Game Center support, which will not only add achievements but two separate leaderboards for best time and lowest percentage of gears collected.

The gravitational force is strong with this one. [8]