Kosmonaut is the original idea behind the game Skyroads. In this game you control a hovercraft, flying over an obstacle different platforms on which you must avoid falling off and gaping holes. Flying over certain platforms can increase your abilities and give special powerups, or kill you. The game features a high score list unlike Skyroads.
Reviews View More
A deceptively simple-looking DOS arcade game where you control a small spaceship with the only goal of getting to the end of a 3D "road" (level) while avoiding obstacles. Controls are easy: you can move left and right, accelerate or slow down, and jump.
So why is it "deceptively" simple? Because Kosmonaut is not really an arcade game, it's almost a puzzle game. There're various tiles on the road with different effects (replenishing your fuel, draining/giving you jump power,...), and jumps/obstacles you can only pass at an optimal speed. In order to beat a Kosmonaut level, you need to find the optimal route and execute it perfectly. And to do this you'll get send in die & retry hell because Kosmonaut is also outrageously difficult.
There're 26 levels, and around level 15 the difficulty spikes massively. Level design is plain vicious with a lot of traps you can't avoid until you know they exist (some gotcha moments are straight into masocore territory), and I hope you love frame perfect jumps because this game sure adores them.
It's not even "good" (fun) difficulty. For example the last level starts with a sloooow part you need to navigate at snail pace, and then you're presented with a bunch of quick frame perfect jumps. So every time you crash you need to redo the slow part again, wasting your time and making your lose any sort of muscle-memory you gained earlier. I don't think there's anything more annoying than something boringly difficult (I can only think about the falling blocks part in Castlevania III as a comparison). Just atrocious game design. To give you an idea of the extent of the difficulty spike, there's only a single full playthrough of the game on Youtube: the poor soul spends around two and a half hours on the first 14 levels, and around 12 hours on roads 15 to 26!
Kosmonaut is an interesting game with simple yet addictive gameplay, and incredibly obvious flaws. You can always try it for your retro cred since it was the first commercial game made in Estonia, or if you're a fan of its sequel (Skyroads). Beyond that it's hard to recommend.
So why is it "deceptively" simple? Because Kosmonaut is not really an arcade game, it's almost a puzzle game. There're various tiles on the road with different effects (replenishing your fuel, draining/giving you jump power,...), and jumps/obstacles you can only pass at an optimal speed. In order to beat a Kosmonaut level, you need to find the optimal route and execute it perfectly. And to do this you'll get send in die & retry hell because Kosmonaut is also outrageously difficult.
There're 26 levels, and around level 15 the difficulty spikes massively. Level design is plain vicious with a lot of traps you can't avoid until you know they exist (some gotcha moments are straight into masocore territory), and I hope you love frame perfect jumps because this game sure adores them.
It's not even "good" (fun) difficulty. For example the last level starts with a sloooow part you need to navigate at snail pace, and then you're presented with a bunch of quick frame perfect jumps. So every time you crash you need to redo the slow part again, wasting your time and making your lose any sort of muscle-memory you gained earlier. I don't think there's anything more annoying than something boringly difficult (I can only think about the falling blocks part in Castlevania III as a comparison). Just atrocious game design. To give you an idea of the extent of the difficulty spike, there's only a single full playthrough of the game on Youtube: the poor soul spends around two and a half hours on the first 14 levels, and around 12 hours on roads 15 to 26!
Kosmonaut is an interesting game with simple yet addictive gameplay, and incredibly obvious flaws. You can always try it for your retro cred since it was the first commercial game made in Estonia, or if you're a fan of its sequel (Skyroads). Beyond that it's hard to recommend.