Full of Stars
Decision-making space tale held back only by difficulty.
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Full of Stars
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Full of Stars is an arcade game that blends weaving your ship through asteroid fields with an ongoing story that forces you to make difficult decisions that could mean life or death for you and your crew. The gameplay mechanics are fairly basic, but the real fun is in the story and deciding how to proceed when you crash (which will happen often). Players can use resources or take risks to repair the ship that might result in the death of crew members -- or everyone on board. There's no on-screen violence, sex or objectionable content, but the pilot does talk of his fondness for alcohol. The game's developer does not have a public privacy policy, so it's unknown what, if anything, they do with data collected from players.
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What’s It About?
The premise of FULL OF STARS is pretty basic: Dodge asteroids and pick up power-ups as you fly your ship from point A to point B with simple touches of the screen. But underlying that is a story of a galaxy at war along with choices that have to be made that impact the course of the game, like whether to spend resources on fixing a damaged ship or to send out a repair team that will result in certain death for some crew members. Do you upgrade your crew quarters or tools to gather resources? Sometimes, seemingly random events are clues to help you solve puzzles later in the game.
Is It Any Good?
While it appears basic at first glance, there's a lot going on in this space game. Full of Stars is, technically, an arcade game, but the real draw are the story and role-playing elements that are a part of that. The game is intentionally hard, but that's only to keep you focused on the story, where your decisions have a real impact. It's an engaging way to get people more invested in the action and make them want to hone their skills so they can avoid some of the more difficult choices. The downside is the action gets repetitive and the controls are a bit loose. And, due to its difficulty, you'll be more tempted to spend money on in-app purchases that prevent you from having to start over (which occurs if you die). Those are small annoyances, though, if you get hooked by the game. And Full of Stars expertly draws you in, making you want to play to the end.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what goes into making a difficult decision. Do you take a chance and conserve resources, or take the easy path and risk longer-term troubles?
Talk about budgeting and the importance of planning ahead. Do you need to spend extra cash for repairs now, or should you save funds for dire circumstances? Can you apply these lessons in real life?
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: May 5, 2017
- Category: Arcade Games
- Topics: Space and Aliens
- Publisher: ArsThanea
- Version: 1.2
- Minimum software requirements: Requires iOS 8.0 or later.
- Last updated: April 30, 2020
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