It’s rare that I find a video game that after finishing, I immediately want to play again…twice.  Space Miner: Space Ore Bust is a masterpiece!  It takes the simple asteroids formula (aka. blow up rocks), and allows you to mine them, kill little robots, and in the process upgrade your ship.  Add a descent storyline, fun music and from five minutes in, I was hooked.  Honestly, I could only name a few other iPhone games of this caliber, and for $2.99 on , it’s money well spent.

Controls:  Space Miner’s controls work fantastically.  They’re adjustable, flippable, can be hidden, and most importantly are responsive to all the asteroid destruction that is call for.

Physics: The physics behind the ship you’re controlling are natural and smooth.  When, you turn, you glide.  You bounce off of asteroids.  Asteroids bounce off of other asteroids, and each object seems to have an appropriate mass and, accordingly, appropriate responses to other objects.  Simply amazing for such a simple game…

Sounds/Music:  My hat is off to the sound team.  The banjo music was fantastic.  Plus, the robots make the best sounds…especially when you kill them.

Loot!:  I have to say that the driving force for my playing the game through several times was the loot.  As the game progresses, you can purchase new ship hulls, engines, shields, weapons, etc.  What’s amazing here is that gameplay is fun enough that this never feels like a grind.  And best part is, they save a few special items to be unlocked in “Hard” and “HardcORE” modes.  If they released an update with new loot, I’d play it through again.

Graphics: The game looks great.  Check out the game play video to see for yourself.

Story:  There are multiple storylines, diversions from the story, and other random places to explore.  The writers seems to have a sense of humor in knitting this all together.

Space Ore is a fantastic blend of modern and retro gaming.  If you haven’t already played it, I can’t encourage you enough to give it a shot.  For $2.99 on , you’d be hard put to find a better game.