By Todd Russell
Yes, it’s a mobile game and, yes, it has ads, but after playing for weeks, I appreciated the fun that is WalkR. Available for both iOS (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/walkr-gamified-fitness-walk/id834805518) and Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourdesire.spacewalk)
My son and I played this for about a month. We approached it more of a fitness thing at first that could keep track of steps and help him lose some weight. We would play for a week and then weigh and measure how this impacted weight loss or gain. He lost about 25 pounds during the time we played, but the weight loss part with steps counting is something a bunch of games try and exploit.
In order to explore planets with others energy is needed and the main way energy is acquired is through taking physical steps in the real world, both yourself and friends steps in the game. It’s a curious way to social engineer physical activity that seems gimmicky at first, but works.
Turns out I got more into it than him and ending up exploring about 25% of the total planets. It becomes one of those time grinder games once you reach a point where you need to wait to explore a planet days and longer. The older I get, the less I want to actively play time grinding games, but it was fun when I could explore planets in lesser time.