Mighty Milky Way (Nintendo DS) Review

Luna, green-skinned, but not from Guardians of the Galaxy, is a young female alien with a pocket full of 'planet candy' and a penchant for leaping around in space, jumping from planetoid to spherical rock formation in an attempt to accomplish her secret mission. Dodging odd looking space critters (cute little pig-style creatures or pink puff balls, most of the time) along the way - sometimes even making them explode - or scooting past electrified barriers, and also making use of the gravitational pull of larger meteoric objects to arc past Black Holes, bouncing off special walls en route to the final goal, are all part of her repertoire in this intriguing action puzzle offering.

Oh, and she mutters small French quotes for good measure, as if this game was not charming enough!

Planets are not super strong, so leaping from one to another repeatedly will result in one exploding into tiny pieces, leaving Luna with one less body to land on, so careful planning must be done when traversing each level, working out the best path from start to finish (made easier thanks to a map on the top screen), all the while trying to grab extra pieces of candy floating around for creating new planets in mid-flight to land on, despatching any pesky monsters in the way, or even causing damage to her arch-nemesis, a robotic-looking version of…T-Rex, complete with evil red eyes! Yes, at the end of every main 'world' (for want of a better name - maybe after 'each cluster of planet-filled areas'? Answers on a postcard…) there is a boss battle that involves evading a raging beast and inflicting damage using clever planet-launching tactics.

It may sound complicated, and at first it does take a bit of time to adjust to Luna's walking speed around each globe she encounters (speed can be adjusted to facilitate level tactics - faster to escape monsters on the same globe or all the way down to a stationary position when precision jumping is required) and realising planetoid explosions occur from too much leaping back and forth, as well spotting various other hazards that were not necessarily noticeable at first glance, but once it all 'clicks' into place, Mighty Milky Way becomes an addictive joyride.

Sadly it still has a hefty price-tag of £7.19, which seems rather excessive for an old DSiWare game now transferred over to eShop. However, it is one of the most impressive games on the download format, probably proving to be more satisfying on the whole than WayForward's other big hitter on DSiWare, Shantae: Risky's Revenge.