Download Squad

If we told you that we wanted you to try out an Asteroids clone, you probably wouldn't be all that excited, would you? It seems like that genre of game has been done - to death - and there's not much more that could revive it. Surprisingly, Luminara seems to do just that.

Just like Asteroids, you play a little space ship thingie, and you fly around shooting at objects, in this case mostly just geometrical shapes. Sometimes the shapes simply explode and disappear, while in other cases they fragment into a bunch of smaller pests.

While the game has a nice soundtrack for a simply time waster, and pleasing if simple graphics, what sets Luminara apart from other Asteroids clones is the control mechanism. Instead of using space ship physics requiring rotating and firing boosters to move and aim, Luminara is a two-handed game. You use the mouse cursor to aim and fire your weapon, and use either the arrow keys or A, S, D, and W keys to actually move about the screen. The direction keys are absolute; rather than rotating, you simply move the direction of the key you press. The cognitive dissonance this creates when you're used to the way Asteroids works makes for quite the challenge, but that challenge is also what makes Luminara fun to play. It's neat to be able to pull off moves like strafing and nifty little dekes around the bad guys.

The game also sports some nifty power-ups, like Spread which turns your one laser shot into three that spread out, or Buddy which positions another mini version of yourself on the screen that flies around shooting baddies on your behalf.

This time waster can be played for a 5 minute break from your day, but also stands up if you want to dive in for an hour of gameplay. Have fun!

[via UNEASYsilence]