I love it when game titles describe what the game is like.  This free-to-play downloadable for iOS and Android (reviewed on iPad here), reminds me of other intense overhead shooters like Robotron, Smash TV, Geometry Wars, or Assault Android Cactus, but with single touch controls.

Moving your character around is simple.  Just slide your finger in the direction you want to go.  You can swipe to move faster and tap to stop.  It’s pretty easy, but some may prefer more precise controls.  Also, your character will automatically aim at enemies, so you can just concentrate on avoiding streams of bullets.  Again, some people may rather be able to aim the shots themselves, and may not like the lack of control here.

So the stage is just an (almost) single screen arena and obstacles and enemies are randomly generated, so it’s never the same game twice.  Defeated enemies will drop three kinds of items.  Little purple pill things will level up your main weapon when you collect enough, so you’ll want to gather as many of these as you can.  Yellow squares with a C on them are currency, and larger purple squares will give you a temporary power-up, like a larger gun or shields.  When you get hit too many times and run out of energy, the game is over.

Between rounds, you can use the currency you picked up to buy special main weapons, but you can only use them for a short while, like another hour or so, so enjoy them while you can.  You can also use currency to continue where you left off if you die.  You can also use real money to buy other playable characters, but I don’t know if they play differently or not.  Again, some shooter purists may not like the single touch controls, and some of the free-to-play aspects can be a little annoying, like having to watch video ads for other games every now and then.  But otherwise, this is a fun little arcadey shooter.

Kid Factor:

Even though you are shooting everything in sight, the only things you kill are robots.  If you lose all your energy, you just fall over.  One of the characters you can buy is a giant swirl of poo, so there is a bit of toilet humor.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary as the game is pretty easy to figure out just by playing.  Parental supervision is recommended for the ads and in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews