Don’t Run With a Plasma Sword Review: I loved Mirrors Edge, it was one of the first games that I brought for my iPad and I played it almost non-stop, sliding, jumping, swinging and rolling through the scrolling levels it worked great. Well, if you’ve played Mirrors Edge you be right at home here, minus the cutting edge graphics!

Your Plasma Sword is your only defense against an invasion of intergalactic creatures, well, that and your swift feet that will see you running, jumping and sliding through the levels.

You’ll find yourself running and leaping from left to right as you attempt to avoid traps, pitfalls, meteors and other items that will be detrimental to your health and as you progress through the levels and things get faster you will need quick reactions to prevent a premature end to your adventures.

With running being taken care of automatically your only concern is with the jump, slide and attack buttons which are on the left and right hand side of the screen. These buttons work well but sometimes, especially on later levels, it is possible to miss them in the frantic action.

For added value there are two game modes. The main story mode see’s you making your way through multiple levels of action and end of level bosses and while this is fun I prefer the endless mode where you are tasked with achieving various milestones to earn XP which you can then use to unlock levels, upgrade abilities and change your plasma sword.

The game graphics and sound are ok, but could certainly be improved on and are rather lackluster, however, what it lacks in polish it makes up for in humor with seemingly a million and one things that you shouldn’t do with a plasma sword.

To add to the two game modes there are 30+ achievements and Leaderboards via the OpenFeint and GameCenter integration that add to the hours of fun that you can have while not running with a plasma sword!

What we like:

• Two fun game modes
• Great Endless mode
• Loads of content

What to know:

• Lackluster graphics

Gallery

Tilt to Live for iPhone has been one of our favorite games on the App Store. It is an accelerometer-based iPhone shooter with more than 500,000 users. When we reviewed the game in February it scored 5/5 and it certainly turned out to be one of the most addictive games developed for the iPhone.

After the success of Tilt to Live for iPhone One Man Left Studios didn’t seem to just stop there, they are now about to release the iPad version of the hugely popular game.

Today the developers published the launch trailer of Tilt to Live HD which reveals a few interesting details about the upcoming game for Apple’s iPad.

Tilt to Live gets a makeover in this free-to-try adaptation of our iPhone debut. Taking advantage of the iPad’s screen real estate, all of our game modes now feature four times the fleeing space! With improved graphics, new weapon effects, and the all new Gauntlet Evolved gametype, it’s the ultimate Tilt to Live adaptation.

The iPad version introduces a brand new Gauntlet mode. The objective in the new mode will be to survive weaponless with all the dots, and axes. Your time won’t be counted and it will be more about how you use it.

What’s different?

• Everything.
• Dots, axes, and knives will be coming from all four edges of the screen, not just the right.
• No predictable formations, only chaos!
• No lives, you wimp.
• No depleting life bar at the bottom. Orbs give you points, instead.
• Orbs are more valuable if you collect them quickly.
• You won’t be graded on how long you last, but how many points you can gather.

Tilt to Live HD Launch Trailer

Tilt to Live HD is expected to be available on September 30th. For more details you can visit the developers official blog.

Com2us have already produced some of the App Store’s big successes especially with Homerun Battle 3D (our review) and Sniper Vs Sniper Online which show how iPhone/iPod touch gaming should be done. So when they bring out a new game there is always going to be a buzz. Their latest title which is currently in closed beta testing is Heavy Gunner, a 3D inter-galactic shoot-em up.

As we’ve come to expect with Com2us games the graphics of the navigation menu’s and in game are gorgeous and navigating through the menu’s is a breeze with the slick military style screens.

The controls have been well implemented, controlling your movement and aim is done via the accelerometer which can be re-calibrated at anytime making it easy to play as you move around and change position without having to have the neck of a contortionist! During the game itself your two weapons are controlled via two large buttons in the bottom right and left hand corner of the screen. You’re aim can be controlled simply by using the accelerometer itself, however for increased accuracy you can also move your thumbs on the fire buttons to move your aim too.

The are two different game modes to choose from, the first is Campaign mode where your task is to make your way through 35 levels of intense action as you defend yourself and humanity against a seemingly never-ending supply of alien craft. Challenge mode meanwhile sets you different challenges where you can compare your best scores to other players via the online leader-boards.

As you complete each level you will be rewarded with points that you can use to not only upgrade your existing weapon which is a pretty affective gattling gun but also purchase new weapons including plasma guns, an EMP shockwave and a Avenger heavy machine gun. In total there are 8 guns to work you way through and upgrade while you can also upgrade your Integrated Combat Platform, which is your combat machine in which are are based.

As mentioned previously the game-play comes thick and fast, however while this is great it also leads to the games biggest problem, namely a slow-down in the frame rate when the action gets particularly fraught and unfortunately the action packed pace of the game is one of it’s selling points so for it to suffer slow-down is a major disappointment. However, with each beta release this has been greatly improved and if this continues before the full version is released the problem should be all but gone.

If you are a fan of shoot-em ups you are not going to be disappointed with Heavy Gunner, there is plenty of content, online leader boards, social networking integration and 3 levels of difficulty to keep you going for a longtime.

Previewed by: Craig Willis

Heavy Gunner Beta Build Screenshots