Looking for Laika Review

Looking for Laika isn’t much to look at, admittedly. It’s got that simple indie kind of vibe going for it, but that makes it look more lacklustre than you’d like. All those pastel colors might ensure that Looking for Laika is distinctive looking but it’s not exactly stylish. Where the game is much stronger is in terms of its ‘just one more go’ mentality, plus its fairly charming - if simply told - storyline.

You’re an astronaut out to rescue your beloved puppy Laika, who has been kidnapped by aliens. The only way you can do this is by bouncing and jumping between planets, unlocking the exit to each stage in order to go to the next one.

Playing the game seems remarkably simple, but it’s really quite tricky. You tap on the screen to jump with a second tap causing you to activate your jetpack, propelling forwards. Timing is everything. You’re using such jumps to go between planets and those planets immediately cause you to go round either anti clockwise or clockwise, affecting the trajectory of your jump.

It takes a few attempts to truly get the hang of Looking for Laika. At first, you’ll make an utter mess of things and you’ll want to blame the game. It’s you though and a bit of practice will go a long way.

As you learn to use the momentum in a way that will help you, you soon end up progressing much faster. At times, you’ll be infuriated but there are multiple lives and the worst penalty is going back to the start of the fairly short level. There’s an Arcade mode too which is best left for when you’ve got the hang of things, given that it soon turns pretty tough.

Whichever mode you dive into, Looking for Laika soon gets over its pale exterior and ends up quite fun. It’s challenging stuff and it’s crying out for Game Center leaderboards, but you’ll likely to enjoy what’s here.