There are plenty of advantages to handheld/mobile gaming, and one of the foremost in my mind is the ability for developers to try new things and take chances like they rarely do in console gaming, but also to relive the past and re-imagine old genres and styles of gaming that have died inglorious deaths on modern systems. The most notable of these genres is the 2D shooter.

Shooters ruled the arcades and 8 and 16-bit eras back in the day, both top-down and side-scrolling. The gameplay was simple and many would say repetitive, but flawless controls, blistering action, and challenging play kept gamers such as myself enthralled. iFighter is very much akin to these old-school shooters, reminding me very much of the original Raiden (Raiden Trad), both in graphics and style.

Before you begin you have multiple control options to choose from. There’s accelerometer controls, called motion controls, where you tilt the iPhone to guide your plane, joypad mode where a virtual on-screen pad allows you to play like you had an actual joystick in your hands, and swipe controls, where you move your plane around via the touch screen and shoot by tapping the screen. There’s also an auto-fire setting that can be turned on, though that’s tantamount to cheating in my book, and went unused.

I tested out all three control methods and they all worked fairly well. As a general rule I prefer the touch screen over tilting, so I mainly stuck with those two control methods, but the tilting was responsive, and there’s also a handy feature available for calibrating the accelerometer controls to suit your preference. If there’s one control issue, it comes from the swipe controls and the fact that you can inadvertently block your view of the screen when manoeuvring around if you don’t have the perfect angle (and ideally, long, slim fingers). As enemies come from both the top and bottom of the screen, you can’t safely reside near the bottom, but must stay closer to the middle of the screen. For this reason I usually opted for the joypad controls.

iFighter takes place over 4 large and varied levels, sending you up against forces of opposing planes and ground structures. The maps are slightly larger than the screen, which is typical for top down shooters, meaning you can move to the left and right to shift the view over slightly. Defeating enemies occasionally rewards you with powerups which can add additional planes to help battle with you and upgrade your firing power so that you can fire multiple and/or more powerful blasts of fire on your foes. Each level features a massive boss at the end, which have several sections that must be taken down.

The graphics are sharp and well designed, from the planes to the beautiful backdrops. You’ll fly over the ocean, through a town area, along train tracks, and more. Enemy fire is large enough that it’s easily seen without being too jarring. The music is a nice collection of rocking tracks to accompany you on your mission.

iFighter certainly doesn’t do anything that we haven’t already seen, but what it does, it does well. The game is clearly an homage to shooters past, and will prove nostalgic to any and all old-school gamers who give it a whirl, while making the younger generation question why such an exciting form of gaming ever left the scene in the first place. Unfortunately its lack of any unique element is indicative of just why it did.

Pros

• Beautiful backdrops
• Solid and customizable controls
• Frantic and classic action
• 3 difficulty settings

Cons

• Only 4 levels
• Not even the new controls can hide the fact that it’s a standard shooter that’s been done many times before

Score: 8.5/10

Price: $0.99

iFighter on iTunes

Space Invaders is over 30 years old now if you can believe it, and still ranks as the number one arcade game of all-time, and likely will for all-time, unless arcades make a miraculous comeback around the globe.

This is very much identical to the classic game, which will please retro game lovers, but may leave others wanting. While classic games like Pac-Man and Tetris have received new play modes and new options to make them better suited to mobile gaming, Space Invaders sticks with the same formula from the arcades. There’s no save function, meaning if you ever hope to make it a decent length into the game, it’ll have to be done in a single sitting. The game is also painfully hard, just like the original, and the control schemes are a mixed bag.

Space Invaders is a 2-D shooter, with you controlling a little laser at the bottom of the screen. In the middle of the screen rest hordes of aliens who slowly descend upon you. As more and more of the critters are blasted into pixelly smithereens, the remaining aliens pick up their speed, moving across the screen with increased urgency. The sound also increases in intensity, getting the heart rate pumping as things proceed into overdrive. The aliens will also fire off occasional blasts of fire at you, though you have handy bunkers to hide behind for protection. These bunkers will gradually be destroyed by the aliens though, after which you’re on your own.

Once a level is completed a new one begins, slightly more difficult than the last. Like most early arcade games, Space Invaders can theoretically be played indefinitely, with your score being the only real indicator of success or failure. The lack of an online leaderboard for posting scores, given the importance of scores in the game is highly disappointing. Space Invaders is extremely challenging at later levels, but also becomes highly repetitive after awhile, a hallmark of older games.

The most notable area Space Invaders has seen little change in is in the graphics and sound department, which remain nearly identical to the old arcade version, save for the backgrounds which were added to later versions, and the option to use monochrome or coloured aliens. Either way, the aliens are single color blobs that look more like bats or crabs than anything remotely alien and sinister. The music and sound effects are the classic bleeps and bloops that will bring back fond memories for many older gamers.

There are 3 different control schemes which can be used, classic controls where you manipulate an on-screen joystick and buttons similar to Pac-Man on the iPhone, touch/drag controls, or accelerometer controls. I liked the classic and accelerometer controls, but found the touch/drag controls to be the least functional.

After playing Retro Game Challenge on the DS, it’s tougher for me to get excited about these straight ports of classic games, especially at the current price. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, as most players should know exactly what to expect going in, I’d like to see some form of additional content added to these games to at least make them slightly unique from the scores of other releases that have come out over the years. You do get some conceptual art, but that’s it. Still, if you need a little Space Invaders action on the go, this will satisfy that need.

Pros

• Doesn’t get more classic than Space Invaders
• Endless challenge

Cons:

• No save feature
• Graphics and game play are decidedly old-school
• Few additional modes or content

Price - $4.99

Score: 6/10

Space Invaders on iTunes