I'm rather peculiar when it comes to my video games. My two favorite genres happen to be Turned-based Role Playing Games and Horizontal Shoot 'em Ups. Especially the ones from the mid '80s to early '90s, when they were particularly raw and interesting. Unfortunately, both of these genres are pretty much devoid of life on Apple's portable operating system, which makes me a sad Panda. But, they do exist, especially SCHMUPs, here's a handful of SCHMUPs that you may (or may not) enjoy on your iProduct of choice.
Earth Defense Force
Though they share a name, Earth Defense Force has little in common with the Third-Person Shooter on the Xbox 360 (Which is getting a sequel! Yay!) This EDF is a rather solid Horizontal SHMUP that was released by Jaleco in the Mid-90's in Arcades and on the Super Nintendo.
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| Not the most revered SHMUP, but still a classic nonetheless! |
Ported by DotEmu to the iOS, the game itself is left relatively unchaged. Additions include a level select, unlockable weapons and a free-play mode, as well as Game Center achievements. The only turn-off is the games' relatively short length and the difficulty, which curves from super-easy to borderline insane midway through. But if you enjoy old school SHMUPs, it's worth the $1.99.
Not the most originally titled Shoot-em-up in the world, Aerial Assault is a Vertical SHMUP, released by GameVibe Studios. The game is completely unrelated to Aerial Assault on the Sega Master System, instead this game borrows heavily from the Raiden, especially in terms of enemy design.
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| This is the closest thing to a screenshot that exists for this game! |
You pick one of three ships, each with it's own weapons loadout and you proceed to shoot everything in sight. The levels are short, but plentiful, each with their own unique Boss. The major gripe is the music, there appears to be a single song throughout the whole game. It's by no means bad, but it's irritating that they didn't include more rockin' tunes. The game is also $1.99. If you're a more hardcore SHMUP fan, you're better off passing on this one.
HotField
Another Raiden-influenced Vertical Shooter, HotField is weird. Instead of touch-based controls like the previous games, HotField has two control options, tilt, which can be occasionally unresponsive and flick, which gives you a digital control pad. The game combines sprite graphics (Stolen from Raiden) and a bit of Polygonal 3D stuff, which looks similar to something on the Sega Saturn.
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| THE EYES! WHY GOD WHY?! |
The game has some sort of plot, which is pretty much impossible to follow. There's a whole pile of silly dialog and horrible one-liners like "How about I take you out for a walk! You worm!" Also, another interesting mention is the character portraits. They're literally pictures of Pokemon characters which have been retouched with what appears to be Microsoft Paint. For some reason, the designers thought putting huge, poorly-drawn eyes on a re-coloured Ash Ketchum was a great idea. Instead, we get pure Nightmare Fuel. The game is pretty fun and $1.99. One of the better titles on the iOS.
Jet Fighter Ace: The Secret Wars
Formerly known as Corsair, Jet Fighter Ace is what you get when you combine Raiden (Fuck, everyone loves that game apparently...) with elements of Farmville. Every hour or so, you get fuel. You can use said fuel to fly in dogfights against a computer-controlled ship. Successfully destroying an enemy results in credits, which can be spent on new weapons and parts for ships.
The game has a variety of interesting ship upgrades and the weapons are generally pretty cool. You can real money to purchase extra fuel, as well as gems, which allow you to buy more badass parts. The game gets old after a little while, considering it's one-on-one fighting, with repetitive background tunes, but it's free to play, so I guess that makes up for things. It's worth checking out, for a little while at least.
Well, there you have it! There's a few more SHMUPS that I'll get around to reviewing, but unfortunately, the App Store is pretty bare of high-quality Shoot-em-up experiences. Maybe someday...
- Kyle K.
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