Tilt To Live /
rRootage Online
Developer/Publisher: One Man Left Studios / fraglab.at
Platform: iPhone / iPhone
Style: Survival / Shmup
Price: $2.50 / Free
Rating: Worth Getting / Worth Getting
Reviewer: Torben / Jemist
Like most other iPhone games dubbed “the most addictive game ever” (for which there are a shitload now) Tilt to Live works off a simple premise, which in this case is: tilt iPhone, little ship moves, red dots die. Luckily there is more to it than that, with a mix of weapons, awards, modes and unlockables chucked in to keep you busy for at least an hour or so. And while admittedly it’s great fun for that hour – thanks in part to the slick visuals, fun gameplay and the overall quirkiness – the game eventually boils down to trying to best your own highest score, again and again… and again. Not surprisingly, this tires quite quickly and the presence of an online leader board does nothing to help out given how ludicrously large the top scores are. Sure, you can compete against friends, but in the absence of some kind of unified iPhone gaming profile, who can really be arsed to set that shit up?
So all up, yes this is a good game, yes it is better than Doodle Jump, but no, it won’t change your life. But hell, neither did that coffee and that probably cost more money.
rRootage Online
Developer/ Publisher: fraglab.at
Platforms: iPhone
Style: Shmup
Price: Free
Rating: Worth Getting
Reviewer: Jemist
Okay, done giggling at the title?
rRootage Online (‘Online’ refers to uploading scores on the leaderboards, not multiplayer) is an iPhone port of Japanese ABA Studio’s freeware Bullet Hell title. Western audiences tend to be left out of this niche genre of gaming, but we’ve been exposed to it via Ikaruga and Mars Matrix, and the recent Geometry Wars takes a page from the genre.
The premise is simple; you’re a little spaceship, and you’ve got to shoot the boss as it shoots hundreds and hundreds of bullets at you. Each stage has its own bullet patterns, which inevitably get more complex as the game moves on. Like, heaps and heaps complex. Like, heaps. Heaps.
Thankfully, control method is very simple; touch and hold on the screen to shoot and move, touch two fingers to activate the special. Works like a charm. Four game modes all up: Original, IKA (Ikaruga), GW (Giga Wing) and PSY (Psyvariar), the latter three mimic particular touches from each series. Beautifully simple vector graphics, by the way.
At a friendly 5.2mb download, and for the awesome price of free, I’d recommend giving it a go. Welcome to Bullet Hell.
