Star Pod is a game by Playdor. It is a simple, yet challenging HTML5 game made in Construct 2 whose first ten levels have been released. The game is only available in a pre-release version. From what I have gathered you control a small UFO that must navigate the 2D levels collecting little gold rings. Starting from one platform and finishing on another.

As with any game the first few levels are pretty easy. After learning the basic controls though a new obstacle is placed to ramp up difficulty. For instance on stage four when the red blocks of death come in to play. They are stationary but cause your ship to explode upon touching one.

Level five we see the harmless white blocks correspond with the red blocks of doom in a maze like pattern. While level four introduced you to the red blocks, level five forces you to be more tedious with your keyboard button mashes. Though on level six it forces you into a tight square maze; once again upping the ante.

Then just when I thought I had the hang of it Level seven came along and threw me for a loop; literally. I had five rings to collect and one was right in the center of the circle with two being literally in the spinning ring. They were only obtainable by waiting for the opening in the ring to circle around for you to fly through and get them. It took me several attempts to complete this level. Luckily for me level eight was another semi easy level serving only to teach me a new mechanic of the game. It showed me that any color block with a spike is dangerous. A lesson I soon won't forget.

Level nine was more of a leisurely puzzle consisting of a long elevator ride but level ten was rough. It put everything you had learned up until then to the test. Almost like a boss a battle. It also featured a new element: Cannons that are small but fired very rapidly. I could not slow down for even a second because not only did they destroy the ship, they could destroy the other blocks.

All in all I had a lot of fun with this small indie game. The levels seemed constructed well enough to teach the player about the elements in the game as well as challenge them at their new knowledge. I can’t wait to play more levels, and for the full release of Star Pod. Tell us what you think of Star Pod in the comments below.

You can play Star Pod by visiting this link. — playdor.com/starpod