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Rise of the Arachnids - shooter

4phun

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Lt. Fly - Rise of the Arachnids review

from iPhone Games Network by Torbjorn Kamblad, Sweden
Flies and spiders have been waging war since the creation of the first spider web. Ever since that first fly got caught cruising too close to it, and having it’s head devoured by a spider. For apparent reason the flies started disliking spiders to great extent. For countless years of dying at the teeth of spiders the flies have hoped. Cherishing the hope to one day get back at the tyrants, and to be able to keep their heads attached to their winged bodies. Now that day has come, and you get to play the fly representing all hope for the fly way of life. As Lt. Fly you have to defend the lifestyle of aimlessly flying around, crashing into windows and eating poop.

Lt. Fly – Rise of the Arachnids combines match 4 gameplay with a tap shooter. To the left of the screen you have the match 4 area, and you have to create matches to get more ammo, and the ability to change weapons. To the right you have to shoot to kill the invading spiders. If they reach the bottom of the screen you loose health. There are also some health objects, letters and flies to free by tapping them. The match 4 game also gives you powerups such as inverted gravity that is initiated by turning the iPhone upside down.

Quite generic gameplay offered in the bonus levels.

Lt. Fly is an intense game, and there is always a lot going on. I feel that I need to focus on one thing at a time, but in Lt. Fly this is not really an option. The 20 levels with five massive boss fights need you to be able to both clear enemies, and make matches at the same time. Depending on the weapon of choice the game also demands different aiming methods. Lasers fire straight whereas other weapons fires in an arc. Having the iPhone flipped upside down in the middle of the action makes me completely disoriented. The match 4 aspect is quite simple where you get a coloured block to place wherever you want. Matches disappear, and new blocks fall from the top.

The presentation is quite good with nice colourful spiders, blocks and bosses. I have to say that I expected more from a big developer like Namco. It isn’t bad, but we tend to see these kinds of graphics from talented indie developers sitting in their grandmothers basement. The music is bombastic classical tunes perfect for the war between flies and spiders. The sound effects are powerful with some thumping weapon fire. In game support for your iPod library is always a good thing.

DLC is a big part of the game to make quick progress. You only have one weapon when starting the game, but if you buy new ones using DLC it all becomes quite easy. I have yet to purchase any DLC as I think that paying to make a game easier, and thus getting a shorter game life feels weird.

Multiplayer for 2 players using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth seems quite fun. As I had this game prior to release I have not been able to challenge anyone over Wi-Fi yet. Bluetooth versus my wife has proven quite fun, as you affect each others playing field. With the amount of online connectivity available it is really strange that there is no online leaderboards for the game. You can post in game achievements to Facebook, but to me that isn’t a viable way to share score.

Lt. Fly isn’t a bad game, and the individual gameplay aspects are good by themselves. Having them all at once makes the game too intense to me, and makes it feel fragmented. Sometimes less is more, and that is definitely true in the case of Lt. Fly. If you look for a match 4 shooter with a lot going on this might be for you.
Final Rating

3-stars_sm.gif

Lt. Fly - Rise of the Arachnids $1.99
Version: 1.0.0
Seller: Namco Networks America
Lt. Fly - Rise of the Arachnids review is a post from: TouchGen
 

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