Two Minutes Of Fuel: Eight Days In Convoke

I seem to have a thing for thrusting at the moment, which probably isn't entirely healthy or appropriate. As long as I make sure not to go outside and mingle with the public until this troubling phase passes I'm sure no harm will come of it. Eight Days In Convoke pops you in the cockpit of a UFO, hovering about and abducting people. They just stand there, sedately awaiting a chance to contribute to alien science, but various sorts of missile defense system make plucking them off the ground rather difficult. I've only played the demo and while it's not the smoothest craft I've piloted, it's quite attractive and scratches a certain itch. My thrusting itch. The full thing, with 40 levels, is £2.99 on Desura. Thoughts on fuel follow.

You would think that aliens who have managed to travel all the way to our planet would have fuel tanks capable of keeping them above ground for more than a couple of minutes. Not true. After a few abductions they have to land and refuel. They do the refuelling in between all the science, which can lead to very messy situations if they mistake petrol nozzles for probes.

The lack of fuel means you'll rely on drifting quite a lot, only hitting the thrust button when it's absolutely necessary to redirect or avert a collision. For all its simplicity, it's genuinely exciting and the levels I've played are well designed, leading to plenty of near-landings and desperate last ditch measures. There's almost a puzzle element to some of the trickier areas, as planning a route that provides cover without sapping too much juice becomes quite a task.