EXO-Planet (iPad)

Last February when NASA launched a shiny new Taurus rocket booster with an observation satellite in tow, it was like watching $278 million go up in flames.

The ultra-expensive endeavour failed to punch through Earth's outer atmosphere and instead ended up crash-landing into the Pacific Ocean. It was an enormous waste of time and money.

SGN can empathise with NASA because it too is experiencing the excruciating pain of a botched launch. Myriad technical issues render multiplayer space shooter EXO-Planet practically unplayable, yet even without these technical snafus its gameplay doesn't have the right components to put it within reach of the stars.

The game is one of capture-the-flag. Set outside a space station presumably orbiting Earth, you and another player team up against two others in hopes of nabbing their flag three times to win the match. If neither team succeeds in capturing the opposing team's flag three times before the clock runs down, then whoever has the most points wins.

Upon this most simple of foundations, EXO-Planet builds an upgrade economy through which you can customise your character.

In-game currency called 'scrip' lets you purchase new weapons, armour upgrades, and increase the power of your grappling hook. The last item is particularly importance because the game's extraterrestrial setting means the total absence of gravity.

What makes EXO-Planet unique is its zero-gravity environment. Even if the game skimps with only one map and a single mode (c'mon, not even deathmatch?), the allure of gliding through zero-gravity space and riddling the opposition with bullets is undeniable.

Winning matches takes more than just running around shooting the competition. It's more demanding than that - positioning yourself through the vacuum of space with well-timed shots from your grappling hook is essential to success.

While it's possible to walk across any of the curved surfaces that make up the station's exterior, zipping from one spot to the next is the ideal way to travel.

Getting to grips with the controls can be a real challenge, especially given the need to switch among grappling, manipulating the camera, and firing your gun.

Movement is easy enough - slide your left thumb to walk when on a flat surface - but having to constantly move your right hand from firing via the virtual analogue stick then sliding to adjust the camera after which you can double-tap to grapple is much too much. It isn't that the control scheme doesn't work: it just needs fine-tuning to feel right.

None of this matters much because ruinous technical issues make EXO-Planet nearly unplayable. Crashes, graphical glitches, broken matchmaking, scoring quirks, players lagging - you name it, this game's got it.

Out of ten attempts to start a match, about half result in the game crashing to the home screen, a few more with the game freezing up, and only one actually putting you into a game.

Unlike NASA's star-crossed Taurus rocket launch debacle, there's hope on the horizon for EXO-Planet. The troubles experienced here on iPad ought to serve as feedback in preparation for the release of an iPhone and iPod touch version. Until and unless that happens, though, all clear from the EXO-Planet launch pad.