Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

That screenshot is not going to convince anybody of anything.

Blast Off is a spacey physics puzzler full of teeny-tiny graphics. You tap around the iPhone screen to direct the rocketship to pick up floating astronauts. You have to watch your gauges so you don’t run out of fuel and go adrift in space. If you get too close to a planet, the gravity well will pull you in and kill you dead.

The app opens with both endless and mission modes available. I started with endless, figuring I could use that to learn the controls, and hated it. No, the way to go is to start with the missions, where you are gently eased into the control scheme. Plus, you get a gradual introduction to the various environmental hazards, rather than just having them all kill you at once in endless mode.

The trick is managing the gravity of nearby planets, coupled with your own limited jet propulsion, to slingshot your ship around the screen and scoot through the astronauts. Sometimes, you can arc yourself through some very clever pathways. Didn’t they do that in a Star Trek movie?

Each mission has a gate that will transport you to the next level, but only after you have collected enough people to activate the gate. Why human figures turn on interstellar warpways is not explained. Getting more than the minimum amount nets bonuses to your score for ultimate leaderboard domination. Blast Off for iPhone uses the popular Open Feint system for tracking achievements and friend lists. (The game is also available in PS3/PSP mini form.)

I’m surprised I have not seen anybody mention this comparison yet, but it reminds me a lot of fl0w. With momentum. Fl0wmentum.

For me, it evokes that old pinball feeling, where you think you’re doing awesome until the ball drains straight down the center. But you keep playing anyway because you’re convinced that was an unhappy fluke.

Maybe somebody could hack it to show floating Aeropausonauts?