X-Scape Hands-On

Why would you want to escape when you could just blow your enemies to smithereens? X-Scape puts you in the role of a grizzled commander returning home a decade after his illustrious tour of duty. Home is not quite in the shape he left it, though. An evil warlord has taken over the entire planet, and it is up to you and your mobile spacecraft XIXIV to make your homeworld lovely once more by firing as many bullets as possible. We went hands-on with this galactic adventure today and caused an awful lot of tanks to blow up with our trigger-happy finger.

Although X-Scape takes place with you inside of a spaceship, you won't actually get to see your deadly vehicle. Instead, you view the world from a first-person perspective, gunning down your enemies from an up-close-and-personal view. The controls are extremely simple: slide the stylus around the bottom screen to move your cursor, and tap any of the buttons (or D pad) to fire missiles. The stylus also determines your movement, so you can dodge from side to side when your blasters just won't do.

There are two types of levels in X-Scape: tunnels and planets. In tunnels, you do escape, flying down a narrow path as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence, so you must quickly weave past moving barricades, strike down persistent foes, and collect the valuable coins that add precious seconds to your quickly diminishing timer. These arcade-style levels are lightning fast, requiring you to make pinpoint movements in the blink of an eye. Your goal? A light at the end of a tunnel that transports you to a wide-open planet.

The planet-based levels are quite different from those that take place in the confined interior. Your movement is not restricted anymore. Rather, you have a sprawling world to explore any way you like. Of course, it's not wise to take your sweet time taking in the sights, because there are angry enemies all around you. Tanks swarm the screen, and you have to destroy a set number before you can continue on your quest. Once again, the stylus controls both your aiming and your movement, though turning is a bit slow in the wide-open environs.

One neat feature is the ability to take flight. There are pyramid-shaped ramps sporadically placed around the dangerous battlefield, and if you maneuver your vehicle into them, you leap into the air with graceful ease. Once airborne, you have no fear of crashing into the unforgiving ground, so you can bank and dive-bomb with reckless abandon. Just because your enemies are stuck on the ground doesn't mean they won't retaliate against your attacks, though. The tanks have deadly accuracy, and they can strike you out of the ground if you don't dispose of them first.

There are 20 planets in X-Scape as well as a number of side missions, and playing through every inch of this game should take more than 20 hours. There is a bit of adventuring mixed in with the action as well. You earn more powers as you progress later in the game, and you can use your new techniques to find hidden secrets in earlier levels. For instance, in the beginning, you need to find a ramp to take flight, but later on, you unlock the ability to fly without any outside tools. Using this new move, you can travel to previously explored planets and discover places you could not have reached earlier.

There are more tasks than just gunning down tanks. At some point, you will need to search for bombs that threaten to cause major damage and deactivate them before things get too explosive. There are also items scattered around the planets that need collecting, so you'll need to hunt for these important objects while doing battle with your evil foes. There are also special buildings that you can hack. This is an optional mission, but it unlocks bits of the backstory if you want to dive deeper into this universe.

X-Scape not does have a specific release date yet, but it is currently pegged for release in the second quarter of this year. And though there is no price point yet, it is avoiding retail shelves completely. X-Scape will be available only via Nintendo's DSiWare service.