Solar 2

Solar 2 is a game about assimilating and/or crushing the opposition, wherein said opposition is made up of outer space shit. That is, asteroids, planets, stars, you know. At its core, the goal of the game is to keep absorbing lesser bodies until you get to black hole density, and can consume the entire universe; then the big crunch leads to a big bang, and it starts all over again. And this sandbox experience is surprisingly fun, in the same way that flOw allows you to grow from an insignificant spec into a big intergalactic-schoolyard bully.

But there are also discrete tasks to take on -- not just the game's achievements and individual challenges, but significantly, "story" missions: about a dozen for each of the Asteroid, Planet, and Star phases. The mission objectives - such as defending against alien ships, escorting a planet to a goal area, and "stealing" planets from other systems - are pretty diverse and distinctive. Not to mention the "Entity" narrator, whose wry sense of black humor keeps the game's universal scale light and goofy.

Solar 2 offers a surprising amount of gameplay for its dead-simple control scheme, and the soundtrack is pretty cool, to boot. Ten dollars seems a tad steep, but for the right price, this is quite the entertaining diversion.

Better than: Universe Sandbox Legacy
Not as good as: Super Mario Galaxy
I guess Solar 1 was on XBLIG?: looks like it might be worth a buck, if you care.

Progress: 100% story mission completion