GraviTicks

Space: it's still the final frontier. Getting sucked into the idea that humans have how conquered the universe is easy, but in truth our mark on this neverending, expanding place is a mere scratch on creation. Even the planets in our solar system remain something of a mystery, let alone those in galaxies far, far away.

Time to get our house in order, then, as managing to conquer our interplanetary neighbours is key in GraviTicks. Each planet's gravity is the force behind your trek across the stars, attempting to extinguish space ticks as you go.

Space ticks are feeding on gravity, sapping planets of their energy until they become nothing more than intergalactic dust. Ridding the solar system of the pest means slinging your way around in your spaceship, killing any ticks you find.

GraviTicks makes keen use of the accelerometer. Tipping it front or back powers up your craft or turns it down, whereas turning your handset like a wheel directs the ship left or right.

The main idea is to circle any free planets you find, coiling into a tight orbit to build up energy referred to as gravitons. This energy is used to power the ship, spent either as thrust or in backward retro motion. Mastering GraviTicks is a case of making use of both. Go too fast and your ship will fight each planet's gravitation pull, putting the skintight rotations needed to fill the ship with vim out of the question.

It's a surprisingly complex system that takes time to learn. Many early attempts at the wrong speed see you flying off into the abyss. And that's a key part ofn play - your location.

Ticks are marked on the screen with a big red arrow pointing you towards planets under assault. Said planets are similarly surrounded by a red ring, the idea being to touch the ring (or, indeed, anywhere on the planet's surface) to fire the guns and take the tick out.

It's a sleek and simple concept, but it only forms half of the gameplay, the attacks you make essentially being balanced by those tight orbits. When you're in the groove, this combination plays out like a dream, cautious loops around each world branching out into pacey glides across the galaxy.

A lot of it relies on luck, though. Despite the endless stream of black space that stretches out in front of you, the actual area of play is fairly compact, making it very easy to stray out of bounds. Naturally, the solar system doesn't have walls, so you find yourself repeatedly flying out of range without any warning. In consequence, the level resets.

It's a frustrating facet of play that brings many sweeping moves to a short, sharp close, and one that's as a result of GraviTicks playing entirely in 3D. While this offers obvious visual benefits, it would have been practical to offer a 2D view or map also to give players a grasp of just how close to the edge they are.

That's not the only edge you might find yourself near. The game has issues running on iPhone 3G and first generation iPod touch models, either hanging on the initial loading screen or slicing through play itself with slowdown. It's by no means fatal, but it does add a stuttering moment or two to what professes to be smooth, sweet gameplay.

It's an entirely apt summation of GraviTicks as a whole: a great concept a little awkwardly implemented. It bodes well for any follow-up from Sturmware, but GraviTicks needs a bit more spit and polish before it blasts off into space for a second time to truly live up to its potential.

There's always one more frontier to conquer.