Your traditional sphere dropping game sees coloured spheres being dropped from the top of the screen which fall to the bottom, when three or more spheres are touching they are removed from the screen until you clear them all. If you build up too many spheres and they reach the top of the screen it is game over. Planet Delta is essentially a sphere dropping puzzle game but with some twists.
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The main difference to Planet Delta is that spheres are not dropped in the usual way, a robot fires them from a cannon where the strength is controlled by the player. The longer you hold the A button, the further to the right of the play area the sphere will be fired. Initially you are shown a guide of where the sphere will land but this is limited to a number of uses per level and further in the game it is totally done away with, by then you will have a feel for the distance and should hit your target most times. This is a good twist to the game and adds a bit more strategy as you no longer rely on visual indications and you have to use your skill.
Presentation is good and everything is set out in an easy to find fashion. Graphics are clean and everything is easily identifiable with cartoon style graphics, the music is your typical puzzle themes and sound effects are used well. It is nothing mind blowing but it all works fine.
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There are three modes in the game, Story, Arcade and Practice. The Story mode sees a robot spaceship that has found Planet Delta which they decide to explore, providing the jungle, mountains and caves backdrop for the game. The story is presented in a comic book style and adds some continuity to the game as the crew change locations. The Arcade mode allows you to play any of the unlocked stages in the game. Practice is essentially the same as Arcade mode but allows you to play a specific level which is very useful.
The levels start at an easy difficulty, the tutorials which are shown as part of the starting levels eases you into the game. As you progress, several new types of spheres are introduced such as the Rock sphere that blocks access to other spheres and must be destroyed by a falling sphere. Another type is the Bomb sphere which can blow up surrounding spheres if it is hit directly by a falling sphere.
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To help you, there are two spheres you can purchase with your score, the Rainbow sphere for example will allow you to remove connecting spheres if they do not match. The sphere types are a great idea and it really turns the game from being a standard arcade style sphere dropping game into a good puzzle game. I especially liked the idea of using your game score to purchase helpful spheres.
Later levels take advantage of the puzzle elements and they require good planning and a bit of luck to clear the screen before the ground starts to rise and push your spheres to the top of the screen. You can replay the level if you fail and in the later levels you will be doing it quite often as you try to work out a strategy to clear the level as fast and efficiently as possible. Use of the helpful spheres is important here, they do cost your score but it is a necessary evil on some levels. At the end of each level your score is calculated based on the time taken and any chains you performed so it is easy to regain your spent score.
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At the now reduced price of 80 :MSPoints: this is a great price and the twists on the usual sphere dropping games add enough variety to keep you occupied for many hours. If you like this style of game and fancy something a bit different then this comes highly recommended by me.
You can find out more about Planet Delta on the homepage at http://www.planetdelta.net/ and you can download the trial from Marketplace here.
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