Immerse yourself into a universe full of flaming meteors and an Earth that shoots red-hot lasers in my new favorite game: Meteor Storm. Meteor Storm is an action game developed and coded by Zachary Eilers, a junior at Bowie. It is currently available on the app store with five out of five stars. Eilers created the app from scratch based on an idea he had for a while.

“I’ve had the idea for the meteor storm game since eighth grade,” Eilers explained. “I wrote the code for the game myself using a cross-platform game engine called Corona.”

The primary goal of the game is to defend the Earth from meteors that are quickly spiraling towards it. To destroy a meteor, you tap on it, and lasers shoot out at it from the Earth. But be careful, because if you don’t tap on a meteor in time, the Earth’s power is steadily drained, and you could lose the game. The basic concept of Meteor Storm is similar to many other defense games, such as the Bloons Tower Defense series or Plants vs Zombies. However, in contrast to these games, Meteor Storm is much simpler and requires less strategy. 

The app has many cool features, such as the sleek and colorful icons used to create the Earth and the asteroids. There are also sound effects to alert you when an asteroid hits the Earth, which you can turn on and off from the main menu. There are no levels or different modes to choose from, but more asteroids do appear the higher your score, making it increasingly difficult to keep them away. Eilers shared that creating these features was an enjoyable part of making the app.

“My favorite part about creating the app was designing the features and effects the game would include,” Eilers said. 

I really enjoyed playing this game because it was very simple and hard to put down. The app displays your current high score, which made it hard for me to stop playing until I beat it. As someone who isn’t really a “gamer,” I appreciated the low skill level required to enjoy this game. Compared to similar games, I think that Meteor Storm could appeal to more players who don’t necessarily have the experience required for more complex games. I also really liked the design of the app itself because it’s colorful and fun to look at, but it doesn’t take away from the actual game itself. 

The game has many things about it that are appealing to players everywhere. However, there was one downfall: Does the game capture the user’s attention for an extended period of time? If I’m being picky, I think the answer to that question is no. After a while, the simplicity of the game could make it repetitive, which, in my opinion, would cause players to lose interest after a while. I believe that the addition of levels or different modes to the app would help retain some of the focus that could potentially be lost. These would provide users with an option for how they play, and encourage them to keep playing in different ways. 

Eilers explained that as of right now, he is focused on other ideas and is not looking to create an update for Meteor Storm.

“I probably won’t create an update for the app anytime in the future because I have other projects that I would rather put my time into,” Eilers said.

Taking everything into consideration, I would rate Meteor Storm 4 out of 5 stars. I think the app is well developed and appealing to all audiences, but the addition of game modes or difficulty levels would give it the final touch it needs. Overall, I am very impressed with how well this game worked on my phone, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to try out an addictive game.