iPhone/iPad App Review: Shadowgun
By far one of the most popular gaming genres, the first-person shooter, is well represented inside the iTunes App Store, with a wide variety of examples including iOS versions of famous console titles such as Battlefield: Bad Company and Call of Duty, and dedicated iOS FPS games such as Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. and id’s Rage HD. With a line-up like this, one could be forgiven for thinking there isn’t a need for any more.
The team over at Madfinger disagrees, and has recently released the first installment in a planned franchise of iOS first-person shooters named Shadowgun. Its claim to fame? Console-quality graphics and the most advanced enemy A.I. to date. That’s a big claim, can it possibly live up to it?
Shadowguns are bounty hunters and you play John Slade, one of the infamous of them all. He has been hired to track down a missing genetic scientist named Dr. Simon, but when he discovers his hideaway on a distant planet, Slade’s welcome isn’t a warm one. Your mission is to battle your way through a mutant army and recover Dr. Simon for your mysterious employers, dead or alive.
The action takes place with the camera looking over your shoulder rather than through your character’s eyes, a viewpoint which cuts down on in-game claustrophobia, but naturally increases your view of Shadowgun‘s world. So how does it look? In a word, stunning! The environment is filled with detail and although the scenes may be a touch generic at times, never look boring. Colours are strong, the animation silky smooth and everything has a solid ‘real’ look and feel. It’s an amazing achievement, and while it doesn’t reach the very best current console examples, easily surpasses last-generation titles.
It’s not just the graphics either, as the voice acting and cut scene direction is excellent too, and the scripting, although sometimes a bit cheesy, sets the atmosphere perfectly, especially between John and his android assistant S.A.R.A.. Shadowgun‘s £5.49 price tag may sound high for the App Store, but it reflects the game’s quality.
Shadowgun is a universal title for the iPhone and the iPad, and there is no discernible difference in looks or performance when switching between the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 – except perhaps the game looks even more impressive when played on a smartphone, simply because it’s exactly that; a phone!
That’s not to say one doesn’t offer a superior experience though, as playing through Shadowgun is easier on the iPad thanks to the bigger screen. The control system is similar to other iOS FPS games, with the left side of the screen for controlling movement, the right side for controlling the camera, plus a floating fire button. Add in a weapon reload and a switch weapon option and your thumbs and fingers often obscure the action when playing on the iPhone, a shame when everything looks this good.
Shadowgun‘s combat is primarily cover-based, in that you hide behind a wall and pop out to shoot your attackers. Ducking down is easy – just walk up to stuff – and it’s a flick forwards or backwards on the joystick to get back up. As for the enemy, they’re the usual gun-toting mutant offerings you’ll find elsewhere, and although they don’t seem particularly intelligent, they’re at least good shots and do make use of the same cover you do.
Gun battles occur throughout each level, but rarely inspire and can become repetitive, plus the range of enemies is small too. Aside from the gas-mask wearing gimps, you’ve got a grenade throwing Predator-alike and some weird robots holding full-length riot shields. By far the most irritating though, are the little spider-like bomb-bots, who scuttle up and explode next to you. The reason they’re irritating is they’re too difficult to destroy before they reach you. Firstly, the aiming system isn’t the most accurate and the smaller the target the harder it is for the system to ‘lock-on’, even though you’re shooting right at it. Plus, when you’re ducked behind some cover you can only swing your gun so far, as if Slade is welded to the wall and can’t swivel around.
When you’re not battling baddies you’re running around corridors, solving the clever little mini-games or about to meet one of the game’s very big bosses! Shadowgun‘s not all that difficult, but the bosses do represent a considerable challenge even if you’re an FPS veteran.
It’s also worth mentioning that initial versions of the game have some problems with crashing, but a recent update solved these issues and our copy was stable all the way through.
Despite all of its plus points, Shadowgun is not perfect.It’s repetitive and sometimes frustrating, the choice of weaponry is a bit dull, and there are occasional graphical glitches which leave you confused and disorientated. However it all looks so fantastic, has action that’s genuinely exciting and is blessed with a level of polish that’s rare to find on a mobile device; even passing first-person shooter fans will get many hours enjoyment out of it. Download Shadowgun and see just how capable you iOS device really is!