Evasive Space by High Voltage Software is a side-scrolling space-shooter for the Wii with an innovative control scheme. The player uses the Wiimote to point on the screen and the ship will fly towards the cursor. The player has to guide the ship through narrow passages while avoiding enemies and collecting power-ups. While the concept sounds fun the game suffers from several design flaws that make it quite frustrating. These problems, however, have relatively simple design solutions.

Most of the frustration comes from the difficulty of the time limit. The player is given a certain amount of time to complete each level and if he takes too long he will have to try it again. While this is a fine feature to give the player a sense of urgency, it is poorly implemented.

The first problem is the way the time limit is presented in the UI. The timer at the top of the screen counts up; it starts at zero and counts up to whatever the time limit for the current level is (each level is different), when it ought to be counting down. At the start of the level a UI element in the bottom left corner informs the player of the time limit, but there is so much information presented to first-time players that he may not notice this, and will be baffled when the level ends when the timer reaches 45 seconds. Even after noting what the time limit for each level is, the player will have to subtract the displayed time from the limit, and you should never ask a player to do math while piloting a space shuttle at high velocities. If the timer were counting down it would be immediately clear that the player has to reach the end of the level before zero, as that has been an understood game concept since the original Mario Bros.

The second problem is that the time limit is too harsh. Ideally, the average player shouldn't have to repeat a level more than three times before success, at least for the first few levels. This is especially true when you are introducing players to a new control scheme. The time limits for Evasive Space, however, are very unforgiving and I had to repeat levels maybe 10 times until I was almost perfect. This design flaw could easily be fixed in one of two ways. One option would be to simply raise the time limit for each level. Alternatively, the game includes a type of power-up "Chronospheres" that increase the remaining time by a few seconds. However, they are usually placed out of the way, and usually only give slightly more time back than it takes to collect them. By doubling the bonus time of Chronospheres across the entire game it would solve the difficulty problem and also make Chronospheres more worthwhile for the player to aim for.

With those two simple changes the game would become much more fun, allowing players to progress further into the game instead of being frustrated by repeating the first few levels over and over.