Skip to main content

Game Review: Shadowgun

     Hey, everyone. The new week of app store games rolls around late Thursday night or Friday, depending on where you live. Those of us who are waiting for quality shooter games scan the names in vain most of the time. This week we have a good one called Shadowgun.
     Let's talk money first. It's an expensive game for I-Pad. It is $7.99. Normally I pass on these high end games until the price crashes to earth after a few months. This time I got a wild hair as we say here in the states. I bought it. I had read every review I could find and I really haven't agreed with most of their reasons for criticism. One person said it was too easy. I am already stuck at a place where I am battling a Cyber Lobster. He is a bad dude and I have hit him with hundreds of rounds of ammo without killing him. This is from a guy that always selects the easiest level.
     Another guy said that he felt it was boring and repetitive and that the bad guys stood around waiting for you to kill them.  Not a problem for me. The bad guys were sufficiently aggressive for me.
     What all the reviewers agreed on was the graphics. It is a visually stunning game. You are battling across an enemy base in a galaxy far, far away. Sorry, talking to the wrong age group.
 You have been sent to capture or kill a mad scientist who has been dabbling with the gene pool and creating mutants, and obviously underfeeding cyberspiders.
      I'm told that this game is a knock off of gears of war. I have never played gears but it must be pretty cool because I really like this game. I like hiding behind hardened shields and popping up to blast soldiers. I don't find it demeaning, like more skilled gamers, that your guy crouches automatically when he runs up to a shield. I love all the serious gear that you walk around in these buildings. Like glowing vats of green liquid that appears acidic. Like red bubbling glass caldrons of frothing liquid that, if shot will blow you to kingdom come if you're within 20 feet. The first one I shot for fun and thusly lost my first 'life'. From then on I shot them on purpose to dispose of enemies who were skulking nearby. I haven't walked around so much odd gear since I worked for 25 years in Nuclear Plants. At least there weren't any cyber lobsters in the nukes.
     I like the voice acting in this game. The avatar (John) and his hot droid (Sarah) do a good job. Of course, the scurrying scarabs that attack you don't talk while they gnaw on your bod. The storm troopers do cuss you a bit, but hey, that's war. After 9MM I can handle the venom.
    All in all, I don't regret buying this game. When Trevor, my gaming consultant, returns he will doubtless save me from the malicious, slavering cyber lobster and I will never go back to his neighborhood again. I rate this game as 4 stars out of 5. Pretty darn good.
    One more thing. Some people mentioned having problems with the game dragging or crashing a bit. I played it on the I-Pad 2 and it did fine. Of course, I am slow about almost everything these days. No problem keeping up with my frame rate.
PS: I just went over to the app store and found an update for this game that addresses some things like the crashing. It is obvious that the developers are all over this stuff, which is good.
    From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Four Free Games

     Hey, everyone. If free games makes the start of a new week a little better, we're in luck. Check these out on your friendly, neighborhood app store. 1) Cowboys vs. Aliens vs. Ninjas- This is a dual stick shooter, much like Mini-Gore . You are an old-west cowboy with a vast array of weapons (earned gradually). You have to move and shoot, avoiding death, as you battle Ninjas and aliens. Some aliens are quite large. Some enemies are big Sumo Wrestlers. There are sword-wielding ninjas and these aliens that yield a mini-nuclear explosion when killed. When your enemies die they leave behind little stacks of money, or skulls. You collect these items because of a strange hobby of trophy grabbing for your macabre collection. Just kidding, the items can be spent or used as the game progresses. This is a good game and I played it for a while last night. 2) The Heist - A puzzle game with a twist. As you try to open a bank vault, you must face a series of different puz...

Game Review: NFS, Hot Pursuit

    This game was one which I refused to download for a while, even though it was on sale for 99 cents. I thought that it looked boring and narrow. Boy, was I wrong! This game totally kicks butt. It is one of those rare games that will actually give you an adrenaline rush. It is that intense. The developers, EA Games, have recently updated the app to include two main avenues of play. You can either be the cops or the racers who are trying to evade the cops. As a racer you have to deal with cops trying to hit you and make you crash, cops buzzing you with helicopters, oncoming traffic, tack strips spread across the road and roadblocks. In the cop mode you are a cop and you are trying to stop a reckless racer by any means, fair or foul. As a racer you can use nitrous oxide for increased speed, overdrive capability and oil slicks. You also can jam the cops communication with a jamming unit. Like almost all games these days, it gets harder as you go along. I prefer my games to...

Shadowgun: Killing The Windbreaker

    Hey, everyone. I thought it might be a good time for a bit of an update on the riveting game called Shadowgun. Consider this your spoiler alert and tune out if you want to.     Once you get past the dreaded Driller, things get better but you are certainly not out of the woods. You will want to make sure you keep a full clip in your gun as you stroll through the realm of the evil and crazy Dr. Simon. But hey, you're John Slade, the Shadowgun, and wherever you set your foot is the place to which your authority extends.      I love the way that some of the barriers disintegrate under the impact of bullets. I didn't learn this at my mother's knee but I darn sure know it now. I have learned that there are certain places it is good to plan on using the rocket launcher. Keep your stock of those filled. There are these transporter guys who are aggressive punks. The only way they respect you is if you kill them, so that's the way I roll. As...