Moonbase Alpha

Each stage of the repairs gradually increases the survivability of the life-support modules, but leave the power couplings too long and their condition will deteriorate, eventually resulting in them failing completely. Dilemma.

Well. Sort of dilemma. The remote droids come in a handy deployable suitcase, so, break out a robot case, customising it to prioritise speed or battery life and choosing between welding and manipulating arm attachments, and get your bounce on. Dropping it by the business end of the oxygen production line, I skip off towards the solar panels. Towards salvation for the researchers huddled, breathless, within their expensive polymer cocoons. Towards science. Towards glory.

Now it gets interesting, because this is where the gameplay mechanics really begin. It's welding time, baby.

I decide to prioritise the repair of the solar panels, figuring on taking a top-down approach to the problem solving. Handily, somebody has left a tool box right by the power units, so I spring over and extract a torch. I lower the panel, a simple left-click doing the job of months of complex NASA technology lectures, and begin the unimaginably precise process of repairing a delicate solar panel with a welding torch. Wearing a space suit. Against the clock.

Breathe easy, though, space cadets - it's just a mini-game! Left to its own devices, this repair would take precious minutes, and time is a resource which is almost in as short supply as oxygen. Instead, I'm able to chivvy proceedings along a little by performing a little bit of non-textbook repair, bypassing faulty wiring by soldering together various points on a worryingly basic circuit board which pops up when notches on a set of rotating circles align. To do this, I have to click on one end of the circuit I'm attempting to fix before, and beware, because here comes the science bit, dragging the mouse to the other end.

Success! The first panel is repaired and the electricity begins to flow into the power cables once more. But the cable goes nowhere - the first coupler has been disconnected by the impact of the meteorite.

There's literally only one thing to do. Collect a spanner and bolt it back on. Which I do. It's not terribly dramatic.

There are a few damaged couplers, too. I fetch the welding torch again and fix those. Power surges through the cable and reaches the crippled oxygen-maker-box-thing. Efficiency rises to five per cent. Oxygen is being pumped back into the living areas once more, but at far too slow a rate. Once more, the fate of scientific discovery lies in my heavily gloved hands.

Or at least the sveltely-jointed manipulators of a remotely controlled robot, because that deadly coolant is still pumping from the rents in the O2 plant. Robot control is surprisingly nippy. I weld. The efficiency increases. Oxygen flows.

Performing these largely repetitive and tedious tasks against the clock, hampered somewhat by slow-motion physics and an awkward interface, generates a bit of tension, but not a great deal. In fact, as the whiny scientists' radio me updates about how hard they're starting to find breathing, I really couldn't care less. Call me a Luddite, but at this point the scientific future of mankind can go take one giant leap.

Being the conscientious workman I am, however, the job is soon done, oxygen levels are up to maximum and the researchers breathe a collective, and literal, sigh of relief. Another day's work on the surface of the moon is done. Sadly, it feels more like I just spent twenty minutes rewiring a rubbish Walkman which has a tape of Bros' greatest hits stuck in it.

This, though, is a recruitment tool, not an entertainment product. It's free, and by only playing in single-player, I've experienced a fraction of what it has to offer - especially if NASA go ahead and develop this one scenario into part of the space-based MMO which it has spoken of before. I can't judge it too harshly.

One thing, however, I will say. Please, for the love of God, science and the progress of mankind, don't send anyone to space on the basis of their experiences with this.