Space and Time are mysterious and magical elements that some people are eager to explore in either actual life or simulation. It’s dangerous and scary. Nonetheless, it must be there when aliens take things you love in outer space. Here you are. This game does let you explore the mysterious space and time seeking for your lovers to bring back to Earth safely. It also challenges players’ problem-solving skills to survive.
Lovers in a dangerous spacetime is a game developed and published by Asteroid Base. As the name stated, players must fly the spaceship traveling into deep space to seek and help “Rabbits” from Aliens who captured them. They will fight with the battleship via controller or keyboards to move the crew in the ship. Players must move crews to the position they want to control tools – driving engine, laser gun, magnetic shield, and so on. Then, players can use those tools in the gameplay to move the ship, beat monsters, and prevent damage, respectively. In other words, players control crews to control the ship, not directly the ship. Asides from beautiful interfaces and game mechanics, the most exciting part that immerses me in the game is the collaboration and communication with my friends who I play with. The game is for 1 – 4 persons as a cooperation mechanic; I nevertheless cannot win in solo mode. In fact, even if there are two players on board, we barely win the game.
The game challenges players to practice specific skills that they should have in real life to connect and work with people. Communication is a key to winning the game in each scenario since there are plenty of actions to do for two people. The charming arts do not help you much when the game mechanic needs you to fly a spaceship, fire aliens with various guns, open the shield, and help Rabbits simultaneously. Players need to communicate much with their friends about which position and action they should take step by step. That part challenges the relationships with your best friends from time to time. A scenario, for example, is located between asteroids where aliens hide behind rocks. Players must fly the ship to maneuver rocks and prepare for aliens in any direction. Guns additionally cannot control with a single spot. It depends on where those guns are located on the ship. Then, players must run across the ship to fire the weapon in the direction that aliens attack. Players who do it by their own will without discussing would end up with a loss in space because the ship is destroyed. My friend and I had been spending an hour to pass the scenario. Of course, it’s fun when we did something foolish. However, it made us frustrated. The best-friend relationships, unfortunately, may not help when the game hugely pressures us; each of us either said unrelated matters or shut up when we should not.
Talking a lot would not be enough to win the scenario in the late game; teamwork or collaboration is also a must to conquer. Most of the time my friend and I did talk a lot; however, no one listened to each other. It ended up with a loss because the game was intense while aliens attacked in every direction at the same time. Speaking of collaboration, it does not mean only speaking and listening but also knowing what and when each player should do to win the scenario together. The hard fun of the game makes us continue to fight since we want to beat ourselves and those monsters. However, shouting and fighting obviously can happen in the actual world between two players. It happened to a friend of mine and me, at least. After a few times losing, I tried to stop talking and only listen to her. I followed her plan and let her lead the game. Finally, we won. It did not make us win every time. It, fortunately, was a way to reduce the energy above our heads. We devised a plan to finish the scenario; we did it step by step as we calculated before. That is how we won the game when everyone was on their duty – space and time the guns must be controlled.
To sum up, the game provides playful experiences and sometimes gives us to practice everyday life skills. I used them a lot in the game, which fascinated me while playing. The game is fun and magical, with the strong use of communication and collaboration. I believe players would learn many skills with a friend in this gameplay due to the complexity of problems to conquer in each scenario. Time is limited. Space is also limited. Therefore, they need strong teamwork to talk and listen at the right time to pass the game.
Basic Info.
Publisher: Asteroid Base
Developers: Asteroid Base
Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS4
Release Date: Sep 9, 2015
Genre: Action, Indie, Simulation
PEGI: 7
Picture: promo pictures from the game,
http://www.loversinadangerousspacetime.com
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