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Shoot-em-up games have been making a huge comeback over the last couple years. Mainly because you can now play old favorites like R-Type, Earth Defense Force, Galaga and Battle Squadron as well as newer games, like Fast Striker, Deathsmiles, ESPGaluda and DoDonPachi all on a mobile device with touch screen controls that make previously hard to pull off with a joystick moves as easy as swiping your finger across a screen. Mixed in with these classics and new favorites, we’ve been given quite a few new and amazing bullet hell and shmup titles. Enborn-X, by Lantansia, is yet another example of this.

This endless boss battle structured game is a blast to play. There’s two different control methods, both being tight and easy to use. One option is a joystick, while the other is relative touch control, and both have 3 different buttons for attack options. Each attack has it’s own percs as well as weaknesses. Your spread shot can cancel out certain types of shots from the bosses, while some projectile shots go right through your bullets, a laser that you need to charge while avoiding the onslaught of bullets coming your way, and an incredibly strong up close and personal punch attack that, well, you need to be up close and personal to use.

The graphics and animations in Enborn-X are very exuberant, and it can sometimes be hard to focus when each new boss is spawned from the orb that you’ll be fighting. The animations for this are great, each bit being flung out of the last in true overdone anime style. In short, it looks awesome. The animations for your character are pretty typical of shooters, but match the style of the game very well. It would be nice to see one or two more moves incorporated to the melee attacking, as right now you punch twice over and over again, adding in a kick or super twirl punch or something would have been a great addition, but as it is, you’ll be focusing more on how much damage you’re doing with those punches than what your character looks like while pulling them off. The sounds and music go together with the anime style too, being full of energy, and adding to the overall feel of the game.

Now, with the game being done in true anime style, it’s amazing that it’s only $1.99, as most anime entertainment is usually premium priced, and with the amount of replay value, and the sheer exaggerated amount of action that’s in the game, $1.99 is a great price. EnbornX is also Universal, and compatible with iCade, giving gamers even more reason to lay down a couple bucks for it. Of course, a high-scoring game like this wouldn’t be complete without OpenFeint and GameCenter leader boards, now would it? Highest score and highest stage boards are included, as well as having 15 different hard to snag achievements. Lantansia has proven that they can make an over the top game that fits within the growing genre as well as expands it. Hopefully we can see another mode or maybe more weapons and characters in future updates, but right now, if you’re a fan of the genre, Enborn-X is a great buy.

Enborn-X gets a score of 8 out of 10.

Invasion Earth: 1953 is an endless shoot-em-up developed by 285 Digital. This is their first real game that’s been released for the iOS, and boy is it a great one. The AppStore has desperately needed a quality endless shmup for a long time now. We do have Gunrazor, but really, after about Wave 5, it’s just not very interesting. Invasion Earth: 1953 has filled a void on our devices, and really, we couldn’t be more grateful for it.

The game takes place in 1953, after World War 2, when tensions were still high, and the threat of invasion, both from other countries, and from space, were on the minds of everyone in the world. You’ll take the reigns of a UFO going up against the military, blasting them all to pieces. And better yet, it’s endless, so the difficulty just increases as you progress. This makes it a great game for casual and hardcore shmup gamers.

The graphics in Invasion Earth are extremely polished, and presented very well. The planes are graphically made to look the time period, and the animations are awesome, especially the animations for enemies blowing up, and the UFO being shot down. The music also adds quite a bit to the edge of your seat feeling you’ll have when playing through the game. The controls are also done extremely well, giving a 1:1 relative touch control that works perfectly, along with a little hit box on the UFO that’s easy to see, and great to use while dodging through enemy fire. However, your ship does cover up enemies projectiles when going over them, so perfectly maneuvering through enemy fire can be difficult, though not impossible.

285 Digital has presented an extremely well made, and very polished, professional shmup. One that is endless, with the difficulty rising perfectly. Casual gamers, as well as hardcore players will find Invasion Earth: 1953 extremely entertaining, and very easy to pick up and play. Right now, later in the game, there is some slowdown. After you hit around 200,000 points, you’ll notice that the frame-rate gets a little out of hand, and there’s some noticeable lag and jitteriness. The developers have commented on this, and have said that they are working on a solution to the problem by staying in contact with the #1 score holder on GameCenter, so hopefully this issue will be addressed soon. Aside from that one issue, and the UFO covering up enemies projectiles when going over them, I can not find anything else wrong with the game. It’s got loads of style, an awesome scoring system, fantastic gameplay, 3 GameCenter leader boards, endless replayabilty, and personality out the kazoo. Being $1.99, it’s an awesome buy, and one that every shmup fan should get as soon as possible.

Invasion Earth: 1953 gets a score of 9 out of 10

Links:

Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/invasion-earth-1953/id431492563?mt=8

Website – http://invasionearthgame.com/

VenomBlast is an updated, re-release of Pictosoft’s shmup, Zapa Ray. Pictosoft has done a pretty nice overhaul of the original game, giving us better graphics, different sounds, IAPs, a special fighter ship, and loads of tweaks. There’s also 3 hidden levels, unlocked after you beat the game on Normal, Hard, and Hell difficulties. Getting through Normal will be a challenge in itself though.

VenomBlast is a great looking shoot-em-up, with beautiful environments, and loads of variation with the enemies, in fact, there’s over 100 different types of enemies throughout the whole game. The boss battles are huge, and very well scripted, and can throw out some pretty nasty bullet sprays. To make things clear, even though there are tons of bullets fired in VenomBlast, it is not a bullet hell game. The scoring is simple, with each enemy having a set score for killing it, and no multipliers or bonuses are given. There’s also no real bullet patterns, all of the bullets are shot depending on where you’re positioned on the screen. This setting might upset some people, as having more bullets and bullet sprays on the screen doesn’t necessarily make for a better game. Bullet Hell games have eye candy bullet patterns, that can weave in and out with each other, and that you can dodge through if you know what to look for, and know what the patterns are going to be like. With huge bullet sprays shot directly at you, there’s not a specific way to weave through the bullets, you’ll just have to keep moving around, and with a little luck, not get stuck behind massive walls of undodgible bullet sprays.

Pictosoft has found a nice little solution to this problem though. Spotlight; the Fire Ball ship. In VenomBlast, you’re given 3 ships, one to start out with, and 2 to unlock with credits, all 3 being upgradeable. The original ship, named the Vulcan, is your typical shoot-em-up type fighter, having a strong blast, and wide spread once fully upgraded. The Guided Laser ship has projectiles that follow and hit ships anywhere on the screen; In front of you, behind you, or on either side of you. Then the Fire Ball ship shoots fire balls (go figure), and has fire balls that circle the ship. This spray of fire cancels out almost every type of bullet shot at you by enemies, and is a real life saver in the more hectic areas of the game. Each of the ships also fires missiles, that can be upgraded between levels, that lock on to enemies, and are pretty destructive.

The controls in VenomBlast are done pretty well, as we’re given relative touch controls, along with 2 buttons that can be placed on the right, left, or one one each side of the bottom of the screen. One button fires a nuke type shield that wipes out all bullets and most enemies when triggered, and the other button controls your ships, letting you switch between all 3 in the heat of battle. Double tapping on the screen lets you fire a bomb that clears out bullets, and causes massive damage. You only fire when you’re touching the screen though, and in a game that has numerous enemies coming at you from all directions, forcing you to pick up your thumb or finger in order to see them, this can be a real problem. Along with the buttons, the UI is made up of a battery symbol in the top right corner which is your health bar, a shield counter to the left of that, and your bomb counter next to the shields. Shields deploy automatically when you’re hit, and look like wings coming off of your ship, which is a nice little animation.

Compared to other iOS shmups, VenomBlast is a pretty hectic shooter, but it really has some stunning backgrounds and great animations with the enemies and even better with the bosses. There is an Easy Mode if you’re finding the game a little too hard, which is nice for new-comers to the genre, and your scores are shared on GameCenter throughout 5 different leaderboards, one for each difficulty, and one for all difficulties combined. The In-App-Purchases are for unlocking harder difficulties, extra lives, and buying more credits, each of which can be unlocked or bought in the between-levels store, so you’re not forced into buying anything extra unless you just want to pretty much skip ahead in the game. For $0.99, VenomBlast is a great shooter, definitely worth checking out, even if you purchased ZapaRay before it was pulled from the AppStore. It’s got plenty of challenge, and enough replay value added on with the extra bonus levels and leader boards to keep any veteran of the genre busy for quite some time.

VenomBlast is getting a score of 9 out of 10.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/venomblast/id452950951?mt=8

Space Ship Ion is a space shoot-em-up from iniGames. I should mention that shmups are some of my favorite games, ever, and that I’ve got a bullet hell group on Touch Arcade, so it might sound like I’m spoiled when I review this game, because, well, I’m use to playing some of the best bullet hell and shmup games out there.

Now, in SSI, the game relies heavily on the story and weapons shop instead of insane bullet patterns and over-loading you with enemies, which, with an AppStore full of great shmups, is a pretty risky move, but it works well here. The story is well written, and it unfolds pretty nicely. Not to say that there’s not enough action in Space Ship Ion to keep even hardened shmup fans happy, because playing on Very Hard difficulty will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole game.

The weapon store also adds quite a bit to the game, as you can buy and equip weapons, holding 6 guns plus a shield on your ship. Items can be bought with points that you collect while going through the game, so there’s no IAPs to worry about. I was, however, hoping for some more interesting weapons. There are a few, but with a game that’s main selling points are the story and shop, I really think the developer could have thrown in quite a bit more weaponry, and definitely more than one shield. There are, however, 2 weapons that unlock when you complete Normal and Hard Modes, and all weapons upgrade while collecting red orbs in the game.

The controls are nice, and the game kind of plays like Super Laser, because you’ve got a missile lock in front of your ship that you’ll constantly be trying to hit enemies with. The controls that are given are relative touch that works along-side tilt controls. If you don’t touch the screen for a couple seconds, the tilt controls take over. There’s also a double tap that you can use to drop a nuke, but this only works if you lift your finger off the screen first. Doubled with the tilt controls, this can cause a lot of un-necessary deaths, having your ship fly up to the top or bottom of the screen while trying to nuke a cluster of enemies.

Online leaderboards are not enabled, so the scoring mechanics are kind of lost within the game, but there are medals to unlock, adding a little bit of extra challenge to the game. The graphics in SSI are good, but not in retina display. That’s generally not a deal-breaker with most shmup fans, as there’s very few retina supported shmups in the AppStore. There’s 22 different enemies, and 8 different bosses, each needing a different strategy to deal with and defeat. The bosses animations and attacks are very well thought out, and should keep you on your toes no matter what difficulty you play on.

In the end, SSI is a decent shmup with a nice story and one of the very few shmups in the AppStore that has a shop. It is a well made shooter that should give any fan of the genre plenty of gameplay, especially for the $1.99 price-tag. Hopefully in the future some online services will be offered, and the shop will be expanded, but as it is now, it is definitely worth checking out. I know I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more games from iniGames in the future as well, because they’ve certainly managed to make their mark in the AppStore.

I’m giving Space Ship Ion a score of 4 out of 5.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-ship-ion/id450499854?mt=8