The Sun at Night review: Bark in the USSR
The Sun at Night raises many questions. Is it moral to experiment on animals? Is communism practical, or will it always lead to corruption? How viable are old-school, indie side-scrollers in 2014, several years into the retro nostalgia indie revival? Can we accept a cybernetic space dog as the lead character in a game that is otherwise dreadfully serious? The Sun at Night turns the real life story of Laika the Russian space dog into a rote run-and-gunner. Laika's one-way trip to space in 1957 was a show of force for the Soviet space program, and either a depressing abdication of man's responsibility to animals or an inspiring step forward for science, depending on how you feel about murdering a dog for nebulous reasons and minimal scientific gain. The game speculates an alternate history in which Laika survives, returns to Earth with a robot suit and the ability to speak, and becomes an ersatz Samus Aran. It's not quite a true heir to Metroid – there is much back-tracking through twisting tendrils of shafts and corridors, and there are many upgrades to acquire, but the game's divided into a handful of discrete levels that don't connect to one another. Still, like Metroid, it's a sprawling adventure with re-traversal elements, and you'll spend most of the game running toward the blinking spot on your map, juggling between your guns and an invaluable shield in order to survive the Russian attack.
Read More