Glorkian Warrior: Trials Of Glork ($3) is a collaboration between developer Pixeljam and prolific comic book artist James Kochalka. A Glorkian Warrior graphic novel, The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza, will be released in a few weeks. The game is a colorful Galaga-esque shooter with a light dose of platforming, and a heavy dose of humor.
The game’s graphics are the first thing gamers will notice. While fans of James Kochalka’s work will recognize Glorkian Warrior’s art instantly, the game’s look should be a breath of fresh air to everyone else when compared to most games in the App Store. It’s bright and colorful, and every character design is a fun treat, even when you’re shooting at them.
Glorkian Warrior describes itself as a combination between a “Galaga-style shoot-em-up,” a platformer, and a cartoon. The majority of the gameplay is very inspired by Galaga, as your Glorkian Warrior runs back and forth, firing all the while at the enemies above him with his Super Backpack sidekick.
Multiple control schemes are offered, but the suggested scheme has players making the warrior run back and forth by tapping both ends of the screen, and swiping up to jump. Running works like a charm; jumping isn’t quite as easy — it never feels like you have total control of where you’re going. Jumping isn’t a major part of the game, but it’s used enough to make the iffy control a nuisance.
Trials of Glork is a challenging game, as evidenced by the heart meter in the upper-right corner of the screen. Though it can hold three hearts, players only start with one-and-a-half. A few wrong moves, and it’s all over for the Glorkian Warrior. Players pick up energy crackers and power-ups as they skitter across the ground — double lasers, fireballs, triple lasers and more can help Glorkian Warrior take out more aliens.
And one can never be quite sure what to expect from those aliens, as their patterns and order of appearance change with each new game. No Glorkian Warrior game is ever quite the same, adding to the replay value.
Another notable feature that adds significantly to Glorkian Warrior’s replay value is the way the game rewards progress. Every game played adds credits to a player’s running total — though better games will earn more credits, even an unsuccessful run will help a bit. Those credits will activate new in-game features, such as basketballs, or a piercing laser.
Glorkian Warrior does a great job of taking a Galaga clone and turning it into something unique. There is a minor control issue with jumping, and the game’s difficulty level isn’t for the faint of heart — though that can be adjusted to an easy mode.
