Astro Party Review

Playing online is all well and good, but things are way more fun when you're playing something physically alongside people. It means you can laugh with them, try to psych them out, or cheat and shove them out the way to put them off. That's why Astro Party works so well. It's a simple, solely local multiplayer game based on one device.

The iPhone supports up to two players while the bigger screen space of the iPad allows for four. In the iPhone version you each take a side of the screen, with your thumbs rotating the ship while tapping causes you to fire. It can be a fairly frantic affair with each arena being small and compact. That's what works so well for it.

Each arena is somewhat different, with some adding their own environmental challenge. One, for instance, has a laser beam firing at regular points and potentially taking you out, while another has numerous barriers that you have to shoot through to get anywhere.

There are additional modes, too. Besides the typical Headhunter mode requiring you to hunt your enemy down, there's Pilot Execution. In that mode, the pilot is ejected after you shoot the ship then you have to pursue the pilot as well. It's a small tweak but can add an extra challenge to the experience.

There's enough variety here that Astro Party is consistently quite fun when playing with keen friends. In theory, you could play it on your own and it's actually quite challenging, but the fun stems from duking it out with your mates.

It's simply done but it's the kind of experience that will lend itself well to various socializing scenarios, whether it's a lunch break at work or a quiet evening in. You'll be surprised how caught up you can get in the whole experience.