Lunar Lander Beyond | PS5 Review

I boot up the game. The Atari logo greets me and I get goosebumps. The nostalgia hit was instantaneous.

Back in the late 1970s, Atari had an arcade game called Lunar Lander. Like most arcade games of the time, the concept was simple: Land your spaceship using an allotted amount of fuel. The concept is rather interesting and provided space travel fans an opportunity to immerse themselves in something challenging and fun.

Lunar Lander Beyond takes that simple concept, improves the graphics and mechanics, and adds a splendid narrative. Each mission only takes a few minutes which gives Lunar Lander Beyond a puzzle/adventure feel while the gameplay itself says platformer-in-space. Come along and hear why I loved this charming updated throwback!

The Corporation is Evil, but the Employee Has Integrity

Pegasus Corporation is one of those corrupt corporations that we all loath. They control a preposterous amount of resources and interplanetary logistics. Their pilots die and/or get permanently injured a lot. What does Pegasus do? Hire more pilots. This is where you, the player, comes into the game. You are a new pilot. The intro cinematic is delivered in a comic book style that has 80s cartoons written all over it. 

With many missions required there’s little time for proper training. I completed a couple of small missions to get acquainted with the controls and mechanics and was told by the AI trainer that my training was several hundred hours shorter than it should have been, but they will mark it as complete.

In addition to flying and landing, Lunar Lander Beyond also gives performance bonuses at the end of each mission. There is a time bonus for how quickly you completed the requirement(s) and a damage bonus. As I fly, there are credit grabs which allow for power ups and other enhancements but also act as a breadcrumb trail which guides me down the right path. 

I’m Not Alone

I’m beginning to feel like “I played the game on Easy” is my tagline. This decision allowed me to finish the game in one 4 hour sitting BUT it also rendered those bonuses as pointless. I didn’t need to spend a single penny. The game provided me with everything that I needed to succeed as I progressed through the story. Perhaps it is different in the more difficult settings where a power-up could be the difference between dying again or making it to the next mission.

Just when I started to think to myself, “Is this entire game going to be an AI robot and me,” a mission provides me a chance to rescue some people. One of the rescuers insists on talking to me about an excellent pilot who is injured but recovered. She isn’t allowed to fly due to her injuries. This winds up being comical because a future pilot that you recruit has an aneurysm that could pop at any time if he flies. Despite her injuries, she could still train new pilots. She gets teamed up with me to help explain the missions and offer support or advice. She ends up being my right-hand-woman through the rest of the game. When she is introduced to the game, the AI hilariously remarks, “Unlike pilots, her experience is irreplaceable.”

Your Team Will Grow

I’ll pause here to explain a strange dynamic. Your character is the captain and you select the right pilot for each mission, but you also control the ship (as the pilot). A small head scratcher that’s worth bringing up but also didn’t detract from my opinion of the game.

Going any further into the details of the story will be stepping into spoiler territory. Know that there are several new characters that come along and add more depth to the story. What a story though! I wanted to complete the missions to see what was going to happen next! There is a comic-style cut scene before each mission begins. I’ll talk more about the visuals and styles later, but these cut scenes kept me invested while playing through the game. Each character had a unique personality: one was snooty and British, one was an Asian cowboy from Texas (?), one was a doctor who enjoyed dabbling in his own stash. 

I would like to mention one character, in particular, though. Her name is Veronina. Her accent sounds Russian. Her constant anti-corporate spoutings and rage against “The Oligarchy” reminded me of our Gaming Outsider friend, Zack. Having a cynical view of anything official, her conspiracy theory-esque delivery is enjoyable (and sometimes winds up being true).

As you fly each mission, you are granted new ships to control; each has its own benefits. A lot of the missions also allow you to rescue new pilots. This is important because of Stress. I’ll talk more about stress in the mechanics, but if a pilot gets too stressed, he/she will require psychological treatment which takes them out of the roster for at least 2 missions. Those extra pilots are wonderful when multiple pilots are being treated.

A Joy to Play and There Are Neat Tricks Up the Sleeve

What a great segue by bringing up Stress. Bumping into walls and getting hit by enemies not only causes damage to the ship, it also generates stress. The mechanics are genius here. Once a threshold is met, I started seeing things like eyeballs floating in the sky, false credit grabs, and other distractions. Lunar Lander Beyond goes a step farther. As your stress level increases, the shoulder buttons get harder to press making it more difficult to control the ship. Even on Easy, stress was a problem that was difficult to overcome. The pills that you need to take mid-mission to reduce stress are not frequently available. This meant that I had to be careful during missions and would rely on those psychological treatments I mentioned before.

The ships showcase some other mechanics. One ship is incredibly fast but, for me, virtually impossible to properly control. The nuanced touch and juggling of the throttle (right shoulder button) and angle of the ship (Left stick) was something that I couldn’t figure out. On easy mode, speed was not of the essence and I was only required to use that ship for one mission. I preferred a ship called “Dragonfly.” No throttle required, just use the left stick to control the ship. Not nearly as fast but certainly reduced my stress and the game-mechanic Stress for the pilot caused by damage in the faster uncontrollable ship.

Pilot Traits and Ship Abilities

Yes, the Dragonfly is slower, but pilots have Traits. Some pilots can just go faster. Some are better at saving fuel. Some don’t get nearly as stressed when you cause damage to the ship. You can choose the right pilot with desired traits based on the mission explanation. If a mission is time sensitive, choose the pilot that goes faster. If a mission requires a long flight, choose the pilot that is better at fuel saving. It’s a neat addition to an already fun game!

Gravity also changes between some missions. Normal gravity caused the ship to fall to the ground when I wasn’t using the throttle. Zero gravity did not. These gravitational differences had an impact during flight as well. I found that gravity helped me slow down the ship. Zero gravity caused me to crash several times. I tip my hat to the programmers who put such nuance into the control of the ship due to gravity.

The controls are simple. Like I mentioned, a shoulder button is throttle, left stick is direction. Beyond that, as you unlock the ship’s abilities, you can assign up to three to the Triangle, Square, and X buttons. There are ten or twelve abilities including two of my favorites: a shield to prevent damage and a stabilizer to help control the ship and for landing. These ship abilities vary and can be reassigned between missions based on need. For instance, one mission took a while for me to find the landing pad, I was able to use an ability which took health and transformed it into fuel. Yes, I had to be careful about damage, but I could fly farther without refueling.

Beautiful Hand Drawn Art and Excellent Voice Actors

I found the presentation to be fantastic. Similar to the game itself, it’s simple. The characters’ mouths do not move when they talk. The backgrounds are static, and the character only changes when their mood does. That’s not to say it isn’t good. Lunar Lander Beyond perfectly utilizes the hand-drawn scenes. Each character is well drawn and corresponds perfectly with their personality. These cutscenes reminded me of watching GoBots or Transformers back in the 80s. The artists are skilled at bringing these statically drawn characters to life through their expressions while the voice actors do the rest of the work with success. 

The graphics during gameplay are equally sharp and drawn beautifully. The ship takes up very little real estate on the screen granting more space for enemies, borders, spaceships, and the rest of the environment. In a nod to the original Lunar Lander, the landing portion of the gameplay zooms in on the ship. I always had the stabilizer equipped which made landing a breeze, but on harder difficulties where other ship abilities might have been required, these zoom-ins were helpful and expressed how important landing is to the game.

Final Thoughts

Simple? Yes. I had a blast, though! I mentioned that I played the game in one sitting. That’s fairly uncommon for me and should indicate how the story drew me in and how the gameplay didn’t turn me away. Any difficulties I had controlling the ship were a mechanic of the ship itself. The game tells you from the start that you’re going to learn as you go along. I did just that! And then I found a ship that I loved to use and did not turn away from it unless the game made me. It’s a linear story. I might replay it simply to see how the harder difficulties alter my decisions. The story is very much like a visual novel with really fun flight missions in between the chapters which serve to set up the next flight mission. I thoroughly enjoyed Lunar Lander Beyond and recommend it for all age groups.

To hear me talk more about Lunar Lander Beyond, be sure to listen to the May 1st, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy of Lunar Lander Beyond provided by Uber Strategist for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.