Space Miner: Space Ore Bust is a game that combines the best of Asteroids with role playing elements, a delightfully quirky storyline and a touch of Dig Dug games (such as Mole). The blend of elements is near perfectly balanced and delivers a unique experience that is chock full of things to do.

Like most Asteroids based games, the controls can feel a little floaty at times and you may find yourself crashing into obstacles as much as you are blowing them up. The problem is negated immediately with the addition of a shield that is capable of recharging fairly quickly, and whilst you may not feel that you’re in 100% control, you’ll still be able to breeze through most of the environments with ease. Even if you do manage to lose all your health, you will only have to try that stage again, losing perhaps a couple of minutes or so of gameplay.

Levels are accessed from an intuitive map screen that unfolds as you find satellites and navigation buoys that are dispersed across the cosmos. Nearest to your main base, they don’t offer much of a challenge, but the further you get the more dangerous they become. Replaying a sector to clear 100% of it’s resources is highly recommended, as it will help you get the cash you need to upgrade your ship in a number of categories. You can pick new engines, weapons, shields, scanners and even new hulls for a completely new look. Each class of hull has its own strengths, such as being fast, carrying a lot of cargo or having the most weapon slots. You can also see where your upgrades are going by way of the 3D model in your hangar; a number of them are displayed here.

As alluded to, the map offers a finite amount of resources for you to mine. It’s more than enough to buy the most powerful gear eventually, but it also means that the game isn’t just a never ending cycle of blasting asteroids, harvesting the ore and then warping back to base. Once you complete the game your final score is posted to the score board, along with a detailed breakdown of how well you did. Completing the game will take you around four or five hours of solid playtime, give or take an hour if you’re fussy about clearing every last asteroid floating around. We were and it was starting to grate once the missions were exhausted; the laser beam you get later on is a godsend for clearing large swaths of space debris.

Missions range from rescuing stranded space tourists to activating anti-gravitational buoys, to protecting the eccentric local space hero’s ship from certain destruction. Often you’ll be called away from a mining site to deal with the missions, but they offer a rich reward in return for successfully completing them. We’re especially fond of the optional final mission once you complete the last boss; but we don’t want to spoil the fun there!

What makes Space Miner is the plot, which injects an endearing sarcastic humour to the overall experience. Characters in the space station are drawn in comical poses, complete with a variety of facial expressions whilst they’re explaining the predicament that they happen to be in; the witty banter adds a lot to the overall experience. Furthermore, comedy presents itself at other unexpected moments; Internet memes, comically decorative asteroids and amusing level descriptions are scattered about everywhere. Like most role playing games, you can even name the young cadet which makes the game more amicable.

Of note is the superlative sound design found throughout. Due care and attention has been paid to all aspects—from the engine that starts out as a quiet splutter and then is upgraded to a smooth hum, to the convincing warp drive sound effect that is activated whenever you return to base, to the ulta-powerful laser sound effect. Combined with some lone harmonica accompaniment and blips of country music the sound design really does sparkle in the game, especially with headphones on.

We also recommend taking a glance over our media gallery too, as the game is great in stills. There is a number of background assets included in the game so you’re not staring at the same thing every time you go out to mine, plus an assortment of asteroid types and enemy drones. There’s also some really nice particle effects going on, although when there are many enemies on screen the engine can lag even on an iPhone 3GS. We found this only in a few maps and it didn’t impact upon our time with this title.

In all, the game is just sheer fun start to finish. As you upgrade your old hunk of junk space ship into a sleek battle cruiser, you realise how much the additional features impact upon this title; upgrades, sleek space ships, hilarious dialogue, bosses, enemy vessels and glorious space backdrops instead of black with white dots-cum-stars. We can bet that you won’t be happy playing Asteroids after playing Space Miner, it is just that good. We highly recommend that you purchase this one, because even at its regular price of £2.99 it is a great value.

Media gallery

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