Introduction

Let's Play Solar 2 [VLP]


About the Game
Solar 2 was created by Jay Watts under the dev name Murudai and was released in 2011 for PC and XBLIG (later ported over to iOS and Android). It's a sandbox/open world type game with some decent astronomical physics where you start off life as an asteroid and grow into planets and eventually stars. A bunch of missions that are only accessible to you when your object is a certain size are what makes it an open world game. You are given the missions and guided through the world by a snarky god who adds quite a bit of humor. The music is also very good and atmospheric (courtesy of JP Neufeld) and one mission in particular stands out.

You may be wondering about the first Solar game. Well, it was released on XBLIG in 2009 and it was basically a bare bones protoype version of what Solar 2 is, so this is pretty much the first game anyways. Unfortunately I don't have an XBox so I can't show you that. I was able to find what is described by Jay Watts as a "dumbed down" version of Solar 1 which is more a sort of time trial than anything. I'll be showing that off in a bonus video later on.

About Not the Game
This will be done with sparse voice commentary for the most part. It's a short game so there'll only be around 5 episodes and maybe a couple bonus videos.
There's not a lot to spoil about astronomy, but please try to not talk about the missions or the reward mentioned in the first video until we get to them.

Want to Play Yourself?
If you're interested in the game, you can try out the demo on Steam or here. The demo also has some extra dialog and stuff not in the full version, so I'd say it's worth checking out if you liked the rest. The full game is available on Steam, on Gamersgate, on XBLIG and on its own site via the Humble Store. If you like the music, the soundtrack is free and can be downloaded or donated for here. Unfortunately, the concert music and the menu music are not included in the soundtrack.

Videos

The first thing we get to play as is...


Move over Pluto, there's a new planet...oh wait.


Mario lied to me, these are round and don't make me invincible...


I could probably take on Mike Tyson!!


We win everything.


It's the end of the universe as we know it.


Other Stuff






The music in this video, if you like it, is available in 9 1/2 minute form in the free Solar 2 Soundtrack. Or get the shortened 3 minute version by itself, here.