iPhone App: Meteor Blitz

October 1st, 2009

= 5 stars

Fly an elaborately armed and movement-capable space ship around several dangerous worlds replete with asteroids, aliens, and other stuff to avoid or destroy.

The Good

• Controls are my favorite, dual D-pads with movement on the left and firing on the right, But the game takes them further with excellent details — little red dots close to your ship indicate the direction of both movement and fire, additional buttons close to the D-pads add functionality (change weapons, gravity weapon, smart bomb), and an iPhone shake sets off a smart bomb or a boost (see settings) to zoom away from trouble.
• Familiar gameplay (Asteroids, Robotron) yet updated with tons of additional elements to add variety. Blowing up enemies produces little rings which can be collected (remember Sinistar?) to purchase ship upgrades, and different weapons for particular enemies (fire gun, ice gun, gravity weapon). There are also bosses that hurl metal spheres in your general direction. The fun comes from constantly changing tactics: switching from defensive play (shooting in the opposite direction of movement), to shooting straight ahead (when surrounded by enemy ships), to sheer panic. And that crazy gravity gun deserves special mention, requiring thumb-gyrations to work properly.
• Outstanding, occasionally stunning graphics: everything blows up quite satisfyingly, the big rocks rotate, and there’s even a semi-3d background of a planet complete with an overlaid atmosphere that you fly around (a really good explanation of the “wrap around” game field in many space games — you’re orbiting a planet). Particularly neat is how enemies fall toward the planet (behind your point of view), often landing literally on top of your ship.
• Tiny, intriguing details that are revealed after obsessive gameplay: one bonus called “rings” makes ring collection much easier, the game pauses as soon as you lift your thumbs from the controls, a “global score” counter that shows your rank among other players as you play, and the game quits and resumes
• Arcade mode takes you through several worlds of increasing difficulty, where ring collection allows for ship upgrades. Survival mode is a shorter game which is essentially kill or be killed.

The Bad

N/A.

Conclusion

Earlier I reviewed Occurro that felt like a foundation for an excellent iPhone game. Well, Meteor Blitz is that excellent game. It marks a new high point in action iPhone games with dual controls. Highly recommended.

iTunes App Store Link: