“Hello? Is this thing working? Can anyone read me?” Lifeline starts with those terrified declarations by Taylor, a student who won a raffle to go on a exploration space flight that went incredibly wrong. The ship crash landed on an unknown moon in an alien solar system. Taylor is alone on this weird desert planet and the player is the only connection back to Earth. In this app, you are responsible for leading Taylor through this world one step at a time.

The app is a very interesting concept that I feel could have been executed better. The app follows the same kind of format as a Chose Your Own Adventure book where your decisions lead the characters, or in this case character, through the story. The app uses your notifications on your phone to simulate a conversation between you and Taylor. The idea of the app is very interesting and different than anything I have ever seen, but it does come with its fare share of issues.

The notification feature of the app is incredibly overwhelming at points. Taylor will sometimes send you up to ten messages at a time, and every single one makes your phone vibrate or make a noise. The app also uses up your battery quickly. One conversation with Taylor could bring your phone down 5 percent.

Taylor also sometimes has to walk or work on something and he will give you a estimated time of how long it will take. In my game, he had to walk for an hour to get to his crashed ship, but the problem is that the hour lasts an actual hour, which means it will just eat up your battery for a hour just waiting for Taylor to stop walking.

The app has a very interesting concept and style, but the arbitrary wait times, battery usage and difficulty brings the app’s attractiveness down incredibly.  I give the app 4 crashed spaceships out of 10.