by Chris Nycum

Created on: September 24, 2008   Last Updated: December 13, 2011

Optimus Apparatus by Stolpskott Studios is a self-described "single player game combining Gravity Shooter with Action-RPG elements." I will have to take their word for it. I tried several times to get the trial version to work to no avail.
When I launched the game a small title graphic appeared and then the screen went black for several seconds before an opening studio logo screen took several more seconds to load and fully display. Eventually a menu appeared that I could select the trial version to play. At first I thought it had locked up but finally it threw up another menu where I could select from several different game slots. Not sure what the slots were for I selected one and named it.

This took me to what I eventually figured out as a ship component and color customization menu. Bear in mind there was no tutorial or instructions up to this point. When I hit the "Done" button the game seemed to lock up again for several seconds. I am guessing it was building the graphics since the levels are randomly generated as I found out.

The opening level appeared finally and a tutorial box overlay is there. At last, I thought, instructions on what to do! They did indeed tell me how to play as well as start the game. I dutifully read them and hit the icon it indicated to start the game and nothing. The game sat there for several seconds then everything vanished but my ship. After several more seconds the beginning level finally appeared. Now maybe I can play. Not! Hitting the controls did very little except sound effects. Everything moved so slow I could not tell what, if anything, was going on. It was hopeless. I even had to Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out of the game. This had the consequence of having my desktop graphic settings changed for me. Definitely not a selling point there!

From the opening credit screen to the start of play this game seemed to tax my system so heavily that I never could get anything to work properly. While I am not equipped with a high end gaming system I do have a 2.8 Gig processor with 1 meg of RAM and a pretty decent graphics card. One would think this would be enough to run this game. I logged onto the studio's website and they only say that it requires a "fairly modern computer."

Needless to say I give this game a 1 out of 5. Avoid this one until the game actually works!

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