Star Sled is a Playdate space game where you control a spaceship and attempt to encircle all the targets while avoiding obstacles. I'm beginning to realize that the Playdate games I enjoy the most are the ones with discrete levels and an obtainable objective, rather than just arcade style. Star Sled is a good example of this, featuring 30 or so levels where your ship steadily gains new abilities as the game progresses. It has a very clear and well done art style, and is simple to pick up and understand. My one criticism is the controls. This game uses the crank to steer the ship, with two optional settings -- "absolute" mode where the ship always points in the same direction as the crank, or "relative" mode, where the ship turns as a multiple of how much the crank has been turned. Having this option is nice, but neither one really jelled well for me. Since the goal of the game is to constantly encircle things, the turning radius never felt as precise as I would like, but I think that's less a criticism of the game and more a criticism of using a crank as a control scheme. Still, even with somewhat loose controls I quite enjoyed this game and think it's one of the stronger Playdate titles to date.

Reviewed on Apr 22, 2024


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