Galaxy Ranger: Save aliens from extinction one planet at a time

One of the newest free-to-play mobile games in the ever-expanding 6waves lineup is Galaxy Ranger, an adorable space adventure that allows you to save the galaxy's many alien species from extinction at the hands of, well, other aliens. You'll have your home planet of sorts, that can be expanded and decorated like in any other farming or city-building game, but the focus here is on traveling out to other planets, defeating their native baddies (simply tapping on them will suffice) and then saving any of the endangered species you encounter along the way.

While a traditional energy system is missing from Galaxy Ranger, many of your actions will be timed, so you can't play for incredibly long lengths of time (unless you're willing to pay to do so). You'll need to balance a variety of resources, from the fuel your rocket needs to travel between planets (of course, the farther away from your base, the more fuel will be required) to the food you need to help the endangered aliens grow big and strong. You'll also need to mine resources from your base to earn coins that can be used to purchase new functional items and upgrade the productivity of almost everything in sight (including your mines themselves). Finally, you'll be able to breed aliens to help increase a species' population, before releasing them back to their home planets where they'll be safe.

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There's a bit of experimentation available in this breeding mechanic, as you can cross-breed aliens of different species "just because," and will wind up with some truly unique character designs in the process. Unfortunately, there are some tap recognition problems throughout the game (that are prominent when breeding is active), as you'll need to be incredibly precise with your taps for the game to register your actions (especially in the iPhone version of the game). In addition, the game's tutorial is a bit lackluster, leaving you to discover many things for yourself (like what to do when your health runs low during combat), but the gameplay is luckily simple enough that this learning curve can quickly be overcome with a bit of patience.

Ultimately, Galaxy Ranger has cute graphics and a unique premise, but the premium currency is rarely given out for free, leaving you to wait a few minutes to a few hours for any major progress to take place. Still, if you're one that only plays mobile games in short bursts, this just might be the game for you.

Click here to download Galaxy Ranger on iTunes --->

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