Supernova Blast is a chain reaction style game.  You have a board that’s four columns across by five columns down, and each square may or may not be populated with an energy star or supernova.  An energy star has three stages (green, blue and red), and then turns into a supernova.  Supernovas explode and send pieces flying in four directions (north, south, east and west) until they travel off the board or hit something.  The object of the game is to explode all of the objects on the board in as few moves as possible.  Each board has two numbers: how many hits the board is solvable in, and how many hits you’re allowed before you lose on the board you’re playing.

Blast Away

A hit is the act of tapping one energy star or supernova.  On easy level, the number of allowable hits is usually bigger than the number of hits required to complete the board.  By the time you get to the hard setting these two numbers are the same.  The board layouts are identical, however, so if you want a challenge right out of the gate start with the hard difficulty setting.  Even the easy level will provide you with a lot of entertainment, since the developer boasts 250 levels in the game.  Playing the game is as simple as clicking the object you wish to manipulate, and the only real complaint I have with the game play is that when you beat a level but don’t complete it within the “solvable” limit, the game still automatically advances you to the next level.  I’d really like the option to retry the current level (to do that now you have to exit to the menu, select continue, then pick your level).

Graphically the game looks pretty sharp.  The energy balls are all glowing and in flux like you’d expect them to be, and the explosions are pretty decent.  The backgrounds are a collection of nice space imagery with subtle movement in them.  Sound effects are basically what you’d expect for this type of game with this theme, but you get used to them pretty quickly.  There’s only one musical track, but it’s decent enough for a puzzle game.  Overall I would be almost as content without the sound, except that this is too slow paced of a game to not have any noise.

I really like Supernova Blast.  It’s a simple premise that can get quite challenging when the levels only have one or two hits to be solvable.  The game has an above average presentation, and with 250 levels to play through you shouldn’t run out of game for a few sittings.

Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Store Link – Lite Version
App Shopper Link

[note: image courtesy of App Shopper]