Reviewed: March 30, 2010
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Chillingo Ltd
Developer
Angry Mob Games
Released: January 26, 2010
Genre: Shooter
Players: 1
8
8
8
8
8.4
Game Info:
App Store Price: $2.99
Guerrilla Bob is the latest dual-stick shooters to arrive on the iPhone and despite its primitive run and gun genre origins, the game manages to rise above most of its competition in the app store with some fun and challenging gameplay, solid controls, great graphics, and amazing sound.
Gameplay is fairly straightforward. You move Bob with one virtual analog stick while firing in any of 360 degrees with the other, mowing down endless waves of enemies as you traverse seven lengthy stages. It is pure arcade shooting action at its best, reminding me greatly of those top-down shooters from the 16-bit era only with better graphics.
I was very impressed with just how accurate the shooting mechanic was for a virtual stick game. I was able to expertly snipe guy from behind cover and even lead moving targets. It is really some very satisfying gameplay for a mobile shooter.
The visuals are colorful and extremely detailed from the comically exaggerated enemy soldiers and bosses to the wonderful textures and environmental design. Even the weapon icons and game interface look extremely polished and the special effects for fire and explosions are excellent. There is some fantastic music and excellent sound effects to complement the graphics and the clever voice acting blew me away – better than a lot of console games I’ve played.
There is a nice progression of difficulty that will slowly ramp up the challenge so you don’t blast through the game too quickly, but even when the main mission is over you can always tackle the Survival Mode to see how long you can last against endless waves of enemies. There are also plenty of secrets and hidden areas to discover that you probably won’t find the first time.
Despite the included levels and game modes I can’t help but feel the game was over a bit too quickly – perhaps I just enjoyed it too much. I would have enjoyed a few more levels and perhaps a bit more diversity on the level design. Some of these maps got a bit repetitive. I did appreciate the support for Crystal Leaderboards for tracking my scores and achievements.
Angry Mob has created one of the best dual-stick shooters for the iPhone and I can only hope they make a sequel and its bigger and better than this. But until then Guerrilla Bob is a fantastic shooter with solid controls and loads of fun.
