Parents' Guide to Moonshot: A Journey Home

This is a good puzzle game, but the fun might turn into frustration after a short while. First, the cute intro story of Moonshot: A Journey Home sets up the reason for the protagonist wanting to get from one place in space to another. It's a fun (and universal) concept of the moon as the child who is attached to "Mother Earth," and desperately trying to get home. Equally, the graphics, sound effects and soothing space sounds all add to the game's charm. Much like Angry Birds, you'll experiment with the amount of force and angle of your slingshot to fling the moon to adjacent planets -- each with its own gravitational pull and orbit, as well as jet streams and other temporary destinations -- so that you can then flick to another object even closer to make your way to the level ("sectors") exit. Traps must be avoided, and stars and coins could be collected, too (the fewer moves you need to finish, the more stars you'll earn, while you just have to contact coins on a level to gain them.) This adds a nice replayability component to get all stars and coins.

But the first issue you'll notice is that it's very hard to play with a controller, so it's highly recommended to only play this on iPhone and iPad. Even using your fingertips requires exact aim to get the exact arc to reach the next part of each sector. Moonshot is pretty unforgiving, so there's a lot of trial and error here, and it can be very tough despite its cute graphics. Another issue is pacing. It's possible to surpass the Weekly Challenge with your progress in the main story, leading to some confusion. Perhaps this should've have been unlocked until the player had completed enough main story levels. While it's fun, it's no cakewalk, and hopefully the difficulty levels and additional content will add even more polish and appeal to this headscratcher.