Birds-eye view, action shooter game using 3D graphics. In some ways it’s like a top-notch Chaos Engine revival.
Gameplay: You’ve got two control pads in opposite corners of the screen. One controls the movement of your soldier, the other dictates the direction you’re firing in. The aim is to survive as many waves of enemies as possible: the higher your level, the more menacing and difficult your opponents become. You have a bird’s eye view of your player and his teammate, so it’s similar to Chaos Engine (Bitmap Brothers 1993).
Around the strong core game mechanics is a rather intricate reward system. The longer you survive through the waves of enemies, the more minerals you collect. This translates to earning more gold coins, which can then be used to buy stronger weapons or better defensive armour… so you can pack more of a punch against your enemies.
Power plus points: I’m hooked on Gun Bros. Even though the gameplay is essentially the same on every level, I’m addicted to it. I’m just a sucker for this kind of killing and violence. But it’s not just me playing the game mindlessly – the developers have made this quite a deep game by including variety in the gun types, enemy types, level design etc.
Interestingly, this game has In-App-Purchasing built into it. So instead of earning the gold coins by playing the game, you can buy them directly. The gold coins can then be used to buy stronger and faster shooting guns. There’s green notes in the game too – these are another currency, but they can only be acquired by buying them with real money (i.e. they cannot be earned by playing the game).
Verdict: 5/5 After spending countless hours blasting pixels, I can safely say that this is one of my faves and it can keep me happy for hours. The polish on this game is incredible – I can’t really find many faults about the gameplay itself. The music is matched well and brings out the military battle. The sound effects sound cool, and they intensify the game action.
Having said the above… I should point out some of the non-game problems before they spoil your experience. The menu is a bit of a disaster – some smart alec has decided to introduce a new cutting edge menu which… is a nightmare to navigate. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people were put off by this.
Unfortunately, the multi-touch interface is a negative point on Android phones. It means that sometimes your soldier won’t move in the way you want him to. At least the developers have gone to the effort of maximising on the touch effectiveness by putting the control pads in opposite corners.
Final problem is the size of the game – it’s 100MB, which means it’s so large, that you download a dedicated installer. Luckily the footprint of the game is around about 4 to 5MB, so it should install onto most phones. But I can imagine this problem ruling out a lot of old Android mobiles.
Gun Bros QR Code
Developers: Glu Mobile
