Quick Look: iPlutoid for iPhone
Sunday, October 18th, 2009I’m really getting tired of games using the lower case “i” in front of their name gimmick on the iPhone. Thankfully a name is just that, however, and usually is not a reflection of the game itself. iPlutoid is just such as case. The game reminds me of a modern 3D Defender, and I’m really diggin’ it.
You have been assigned the task of guarding the humanoid inhabitants of a generic planet from alien attack. Basically you have your ship which is equipped with a laser sufficient to take the aliens down and a radar to know where the aliens are. You must continually circle the planet blowing away the invaders before they can suck the people from their homes. Your planet starts out with 10 people and a lighthouse. If an alien ship is able to successfully consume a humanoid then your “safe” count goes down and the humanoid’s house gets destroyed. It is possible to destroy the ship between the time it first starts pulling in a humanoid and the time it has consumed it, in which case the humanoid will safely parachute back to its house.
Over lots of time the humanoids will start rebuilding and repopulating houses. However, if the count ever gets down to 0 the aliens will go after your lighthouse. When the lighthouse is destroyed the game is over. There are 4 different types of alien ships as well as a mutated version of the ship that gets the humanoids once it has consumed a humanoid. In addition to the ships you have to watch the landscape because hitting buildings will kill you. You start out with three lives, and once they are gone it’s game over as well. I imagine at some point you get extra lives, but I haven’t been that lucky yet.
Alien Ships Are Everywhere
The control scheme works pretty well. You tilt the device to rotate your ship, press somewhere in the left half of the screen for thrust, and somewhere in the right half of the screen to fire. The only thing that’s a bit weird is targeting. The crosshair will start out spread far apart, and as you’re homing in to where you’ll hit your target the crosshair will come together and eventually turn red. The problem is there seems to be a very small window to where the target is red, and it takes me quite a while sometimes to adjust the crosshair just right. I am finally starting to get better at that, though.
I really like the visuals in iPlutoid. They are far from “cutting edge”, but the simple 3D renders with colored but not textured faces has a nice “retro modern” look to it. The sound effects are decent as well, and actually play a part in the game. There’s one sound in particular that indicates that a ship has started to capture a humanoid, which means you better start looking for that poor humanoid. The music that plays during the menu is rather enjoyable, but unfortunately there is no music during game play itself. I know you need to be able to hear the sound effects, but maybe there could at least be some quiet background tune playing?
iPlutoid is a perfect addition to any scrolling shooter fan’s collection. I do miss the now “standard” power ups that most shooters employ, and the targeting mechanism drives me nuts, but I still find myself drawn to playing this game repeatedly. If you’re looking for a new scrolling shooter experience, don’t let iPlutoid pass you by.
Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
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