SCAWAR Space Combat: Blast your way through hordes of alien scum in this high octane space shooter!
Wow… I’m lost for words with this high-intensity game. It really packs a punch and the classic space shooting just had me absorbed… every time I play tested the game I lost about half an hour of my time. Check out what we thought of this top notch arcade game…
Gameplay: Aliens are threatening the existence of the human race and it’s your mission to save the universe! You do this by piloting your ship around preset space zones and clearing the area of all the enemy threats. The flying is done by tilting your phone around and shooting is executed by using a floating D-pad on the screen.
In a nutshell, this is similar to Pew Pew arcade style action where you’re a fighter ship within a preset area. But there’s no psychedelic colors and instead you have cool animated spaceships. Also, most importantly, there aren’t two onscreen D-pads because movement is done via your gyroscope.
Around this core game is quite an elegant freemium model where you collect gems and use them to purchase upgrades for your ship. So generally you go around blasting the hell out of everything in order to get more gems which will let you pimp up your ship to do even more damage. The first 10 levels are free, and if you buy the game you get 10 more and you’ll remove the ads.
Music and Sound Effects: The music is very upbeat and I personally enjoy it very much. There are some very strong Euro Dance/Techno tunes and the sound guy should probably get a job as a DJ in Europe because he’d have the crowd going wild with these beats! Sound effects are cool too, and they’re important in upping the intensity of the game.
Graphics: There are some breath taking space backgrounds with intense stars and nebulae. The stunning levels are quite mesmerising and almost distract you when you’re in the middle of the game (note: I’m a bit of a stargazing geek). Particle effects add to all of the beauty of the game and its just so satisfying blasting the weird amoeba like alien space ships.
Controls: I know I’ve criticized games which have bad controls (Bomberman vs Zombies), and this game was close to that point. It’s not instantly easy to navigate the ship and it takes a bit of time to get used to. In the easy levels where you’re farming for gems, this nuisance is bearable, but as you get to the more hectic rounds it is frustrating to collide into the enemies too easily. I’m slightly torn about the tilt controls though because I think it’s a great defining feature of the game, and the increased difficulty makes it more challenging. This intruiging control setup also benefits slightly older phones which have abysmal multitouch ability. Having said all this, I’m sure someone would want the option of having multiple D-pads on screen.
Gut Feel and Reward Fever: Love it! When a game tells me I’ve won the “n00b” award, I think its hilarious. So it led me to have a look at the achievements on Scoreloop (which on a side note seems much more lighter weight and unobtrusive in comparison to OpenFeint). Overall I was having a blast with this game and I really enjoyed shooting wave after wave of enemies. The powerup system combined with the achievements are going to keep me very happy for a long time!
Rating: 4.5/5 SCAWAR is top notch instant arcade action fun with some intense challenging parts to it. It’s free and well worth keeping on your phone. If you don’t like it… it’s probably due to the controls, but I’m sure an update with optional control schemes will come out soon.
SCAWAR Space Combat Promotional Youtube Video
SCAWAR Space Combat Tips from Android Games Review
- Make sure your gyroscope/accelerometer is working correctly. Ensure that you calibrate your phone in a comfortable position right at the beginning.
- Do two weapon upgrades first as it’ll increase your rate of fire which should improve your firing accuracy. (The first two weapon upgrades are 100 and 200 crystals respectively)
- Even after two weapon upgrades you’ll still only have single fire. If you keep upgrading you should get multi range shots (as per the promo video).
- If you do magnet upgrades, then do two at once. The first magnet upgrade is pathetic and almost worthless, and even the second one’s power is quite low though just about useful. (The first two magnet upgrades are 100 and 250 crystals respectively.)
- Try and fly perfectly even if you have the magnets as you’ll improve your ability to dodge the enemy.
- The beginning is all about collecting crystals so don’t worry about the shields or lives.
- Keep firing all the time as there’s a slight delay in firing if you release your touch and re-enable it again.
- In the early stages don’t shoot blindly everywhere. Shoot only into the walls or corners you see and avoid the temptation of blasting across the whole map because you want to know where your enemies are killed so you can pick up the gems. Remember you’re farming the enemies for crystals all the time.
SCARWAR Space Combat QR Code
(Click on the image or scan the barcode with your Android phone to goto to Google Play)
Developers: Punch Wolf Game Studios
