Without Fanfare: Death Dome

     Hey, everyone. I have noticed an oddity about the weekly release of I-Pad games. There is a cluster of games that have the limelight. They are previewed and written about and put on the front page of the app store. Inevitably there are one, or several, games that sneak up on people until you realize that hey, this is a good game. Such a game crept onto the platform this week with the offering called Death Dome. This game is a huge file, over 600 MB. It is a sword fighting game set in a future time which is not so pleasant. There has been a disease called simply The M-Virus. It makes people swell up into monstrosities with black dots all over them or tentacles emerging from their bellies. They are called behemoths and have been placed under a huge dome which covers most of a city. A woman named Phoenix (now you) is trapped inside the dome with these things. She is more or less normal, I guess. She packs a serious weapon, armor and shield and goes hunting for trouble. She is intent on killing all the Behemoths and I suppose that you and I are along for the ride. Ha, ha. She once used a STOP sign to beat the tar out of a monster.
     So, the action is similar to Infinity Blade's swipe and slash. You can do blocks, parries and the other stuff, with a FLUX attack which is nicely devastating. You have charms which can be earned. They are odd and I don't understand them. There are things like ground up metal, which must put a rash or something on the large enemies. That is a joke.
     The graphics are almost staggeringly good. The voice acting, excellent. I like the background story. You can grind away and win some battles, get some better gear etc. The game is free, if you can believe that. I must say that they push the in-apps and the store part of the app is a little confusing. I think I like it well enough to buy some 'Death Diamonds' and play for a while.
     I just fought a big dude called Geist. He is metallic, hates electricity and has a smart-aleck attitude. After he whipped me, he posed a bit and drew his hand across his throat with a slashing gesture. Ticked me off, you bet. When you get beat like this, you have the opportunity to buy a 'revive'. If you already have a revive, you can use it. Heck, they cost three diamonds, which in real life would be a great price to return from the dead, but if you don't have the jewels, then you just die and any reward already gained in that particular fight is lost. Not the stuff you've earned throughout the game but just the one battle. Bit of a bummer.
     Your lady avatar, by the way, is pretty wild. Sometimes she drinks some of this M-Virus stuff to pump herself up. She is immune to the loathsome disease but it tends to make her more powerful and warlike.
     This game is a bit of an odd duck. You ought to try it, if that genre is your style. I like it a lot but it could be so much better with a change here and there. The bottom line is this: I think it will be a hit, if enough people find out about it.
     I'm CE Wills.
P.S. This is for 17 and older type of folks, according to the app store.
P.P.S. I just went over on the store. The cheapest in-app is for $4.99 and that only gets you 110 diamonds, which doesn't go very far in buying weapons. Some in-apps are $49.99 and up. I appreciate the free game but they should probably be a little more generous with the diamonds and arrange things so that you can play the whole game, earn any weapon, do anything, with some effort and say, $5 to $7. Still, I like it and I understand that developers have to make a living while trying to please a bunch of fussy fans like myself. Ha, ha.