‘Water Galaxy’ Review – Making Astrophysics Fun

If your alien race needs water, the only logical thing to do is attach giant water cannons to planets throughout the galaxy and squirt the precious fluids through the void of space to your eagerly receptive Mothership. Right? Well that’s the premise of Water Galaxy, a physics puzzler from Wired Games. Despite the (no doubt unintended) sexual symbolism, Water Galaxy is wholesome, easy-to-play fun in a small package.

The story is very thin and doesn’t provide much beyond tutorial information; a race of aliens called the Saphira need water and the player has been recruited to provide it. There really isn’t much more to it. Gameplay and puzzle solving take the forefront in this game.

Players have a water cannon that can launch an entire planet’s worth of water into outer space in the form of several fast-moving blobs. The water blobs shoot across the screen in a straight line unless some source of gravity acts on them. The physics system works well, accurately simulating the pull of gravity so that players can “Slingshot” around planets by aiming at the fringe of their gravitational field.

Controls are simple, aim the water with the mouse and fire it with the space bar. Once the space bar is hit, players no longer have control over the water’s path and the blobs will be pulled around the levels by the gravitational force of heavenly bodies like stars, planets and the Mothership.

Water Galaxy gives the player the choice of setting up “Gravity Fields” that can pull water towards them, thus altering its path, to circumvent obstacles. These can be placed anywhere on the map, and the player can adjust how strong they are. Each level has a different number of gravity fields ranging from none up to five. Clever players can find ways to complete the levels without using all of them, and the game encourages experimentation. Some of the levels can even be turned into Rube Goldberg contraptions with water flying all over the place until it finally reaches the Mothership.

Adding to the challenge are hazards such as stars that will evaporate the water, as well as poisonous clouds that will taint the precious fluid if it passes through them. There are also fields that cause your water to increase in amount; these levels require players to get their original burst of water to travel through the field (essentially starting out with 80% of the total amount needed by the Mothership). There are also red “Anti-bonus” fields that absorb water and must be avoided. Later levels add in wormholes that teleport the water blasts around the map.

An interesting feature is the use of “Ice Planets” which will freeze the water solid if it passes too closely, thereby rendering the ice immune to gravity. Of course in the real world, water would freeze solid almost instantly if launched into space, and ice is most certainly still affected by gravity. The use of authentic astrophysics is obviously not a high priority for the game and it keeps to a light-hearted tone.

The graphics are simple 2D images that aren’t impressive but they do clearly define the objects and hazards that they represent. Everything is neatly color-coded and players aren’t likely to confuse a wormhole with a planet. The soundtrack is a handful of spacey tunes that provide enjoyable, but not distracting ambient sound.

Even though there is a lot of good design in Water Galaxy, the levels often become pure trial and error with the player firing blast after blast, adjusting the mouse a little bit after each failure until the right position is reached. There is no penalty for a missed shot and no way to die or fail. There is a timer, but it counts up, rather than counting down from a set time limit. Players are essentially competing to complete the levels as quickly as they can.

Another problem is the lack of difficulty. In order to complete a level, players need to get 100% of their planet’s water to the Mothership. However, the player doesn’t actually need to complete a level in order to progress. If a someone gets completely stumped, they can just continue on to the next planet without any sort of penalty. While this ensures that everyone gets to enjoy all of the levels, it also means there is no sense of challenge or urgency.  Completing the game is a given, not an accomplishment.

Water Galaxy is short too. There are 52 levels which might sound like a lot, but some of these are merely there as tutorials and can be completed in seconds. Even near the end of the game, there are still plenty of levels that can be finished with one lucky shot. Spending an evening or two with it will allow most players to grok this water to the fullest.

A very interesting feature is the inclusion of a level editor so that players can make their own maps and share them online. There are already a few “Online Levels” available, and these are very easily accessed through Water Galaxy’s main menu. Using the design tools is easy, it doesn’t have a slick interface or a tutorial that takes inexperienced gamers by the hand, but it only takes a minute of experimentation to have a working level that can be shared with the world. Once the levels are uploaded anyone playing can vote for or against your creation.

Water Galaxy does what it does very well. It’s a simple to use game that can be completed with ease. However getting 100% completion on every level using as few gravity fields as possible takes a good deal of thought, and hardcore puzzle fans will probably spend more than a couple of hours with it. The short playing time is surely a problem, although there will most likely be a community of gamers creating new material and this will extend the playing time somewhat (and make updates very easy).

Water Galaxy is available now for PC. It can bought for $4.00 through Indievania. More can be seen on the Wired Games website.

Review summary Pros:

Easy to learn, has a level editor

Cons:

Short, generally too easy

Rating: 76%