SPACE by THIX
They say SPACE is empty, and they’re right…
$3.99 Developer Thix, thix.co/space Platform iPad Requirements iOS 8 or later
SPACE is billed as an educational app/game, but we’re not convinced. It’s hard to understand what exactly about SPACE is educational: you are in space, you can add celestial bodies (stars, planets, black holes, etc.) to your own personal space, and you can watch as planets get vaporized because you placed them too close to the sun and stars turn supernova because… well, that’s what they do sometimes?
The minimalist, sparse controls mean that you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing or why, and the tutorial is finicky – if you do the wrong thing halfway through the tutorial, it will start up from the beginning next time you open the app.
There’s certainly an appeal to it – seeing planets and stars crash together is fun when you don’t have to think about the human (alien?) cost – but the actual visuals usually involve a large circle spinning around a bigger circle for a while, followed by a big flash. Not quite the intergalactic fireworks you’d hope for.
Unsurprisingly, some iPads aren’t up to the challenge of rendering the universe, and the app suffers from slowness and occasional crashes on older models. This can be even more frustrating when the tutorial then reloads. Again. All in all, it’s difficult to discern what SPACE offers in terms of education or entertainment. It’s too simple to be a game, too sparse to be educational, and overall has just too little to offer.
the bottom line. SPACE is just not as breathtaking as being in actual space. Well, we imagine so, anyway.