Multi-Player First Person Shooters

Overview

When you can't get onto your console, but still want your trigger finger fix what do you do? Your in luck because I have tested out each of these next shooters and I'm going to give you the rundown on the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of Multi-Player First Person Shooters for the iPhone.

Essential Apps

Free
Eliminate: CO-OP

by ngmoco, Inc.

Eliminate Co-Op was first on the scene and is my pick for the essential slot. Not only can you play the origional Eliminate: Pro with this app, but you get the bonus of playing their new Co-Op missions as well. The game supports up to 4 players in 10 maps via "Deathmatch" and 2 players in Co-Op on 3g or wifi. Note I never said Team Deathmatch. There are no teams here, you are on your own to try and get 10 kills before anyone else. How well you do directly relates to how many credits you earn. The more credits you earn, the better weapons, armors and time-sensitive perks you can buy, and there are A LOT of weapons combinations. You can upgrade the power of everything, from the rate of fire, reload time, armor strength, jumping height, you name it. The game is completely free, but of course like any major free game there is a pay option. You get "power cells" over time which allow you to play the game and earn credits. When you run out of cells, you run out of the ability to earn credits. You CAN still play until your eyes go numb, you just will no longer earn those ever important credits to buy things. That's where your money comes in. You can buy new power cells which can be burned up with playtime or transfered directly to credits. Obviously the more money you put in, the better you'll be. I do have to say though, its a good system, and if you practice, you don't really feel the disparity between paid and non-paid gamers. The ability to edit characters appearance, weapon and armor upgrades and the amount of updates to the game by the developers and "boost" apps that give you free powercells (whether its Eliminate Burst, Eliminate Turbo or one of their other games.) you really can't go wrong with this FPS. Oh, and it's Free to play.

Notable Apps

$0.99
Archetype

by Villain LLC

New to the scene as of this writing, they had a lot of ground to catch up on and it looks like they have done it. With a very polished experience, updated graphics for the iPhone 4, and the standard of 3G or wifi gameplay, you have a solid shooter in the making. What this game brings that others don't is the ability for 5 on 5 Team Deathmatch! Thats double and then some the total players allowed in other game's rooms, let alone on teams. There are 5 maps and 6 weapons scattered around them to choose from which isn't spectacular but what's unique to this game is the melee button. This is the first shooter for the iPhone that lets you melee with any weapon and even boasts an axe you can pick up which is crazy fun to run around with. Add in the fact that you have a mini radar showing opponents locations and you have the makings on an elite shooter for the iPhone. The only reason I didn't make it essential is because of its lack of customization, control or appearance wise, and because as a shooter it just didn't feel right. Too many times I found myself strafing back and forth just trying to land shots. With it defaulted on auto-fire, it was more like a battle to see who can keep the cross hairs on the other the longest and less of a real shooter. Because of this, long distance battle is pretty much non-existent. But hey, who needs sniper rifles when you have an axe?
$6.99
Dead Space™

by Electronic Arts

Dead Space is an extremely full featured game for the iPhone. It includes two modes of gameplay (story and Survival Mode) and a wide variety of weapons, both included and ones that you can download. The way to get these weapons is to either acquire credits through gameplay or by buying the credits them with an In-App purchase for a fair price. Dead Space’s controls are pretty good when compared to other games on iOS, but of course do not match a physical controller by any means. The real killer feature of this game however, has to be Survival Mode. This type of gameplay challenges you through four different maps of you strategizing how to get the upper hand with enemy fire surrounding you. This mode is best to acquire credits and allows you to bring in everything that you have earned in story mode, although keep in mind that it will only work on an iPhone 3Gs and up. Dead Space, while a good game can be a bit unstable at times, but if you can handle a few crashes every once in a while, this game is great and will keep you playing for hours at a time.
$4.99
N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance

by Gameloft

N.O.V.A. for the iPhone is a top notch shooter with really polished graphics (updated for the iPhone 4) that has the option to be controlled with the gyroscope instead of on-screen joysticks to move around. Like Eliminate, this game also has no "Team Deathmatch" but it boasts a nice clean lobby system which means you'll always be able to find an open game in a map you like (if not, you can always create a game as well). Weapons are pickups in this game, not custom classes, so knowing your map is just as important as figuring out which control scheme is best for you. On a negative note, it seems that there is no level system in place, or upgrades to weapons. There is only a crude Kills ranking. You just pickup and play, no rhyme or reason. I also couldn't find a way to *End* a level. I went about 25-10 in Deathmatch and found myself quitting because there was no goal in place. But, if you get bored fragging people, you could always play the campaign... What am I saying? Who buys a game like Call of Duty for the campaign?! Anyways, its there for those who do. As a final thought I should note that there does seem to be a glitch that lets people auto kill everyone in the map when you spawn. The game needs some polish on the gameplay side, but it is still a solid shooter and a good start for Gameloft. At 5 bucks though, I can't make it my essential pick just yet.
$0.99
iMech

by Flying Dino LLC

iMech is a beautiful one of a kind shooter that pits big machines against each other in a Deathmatch scenario. If you ever played and enjoyed "Mechwarrior" back in the day, you'll love this. With unlockables, 8 player Deathmatch, 5 weapons and 3 mechs to choose from you'll be racking up a body count... or whatever you call a pile of scrap in no time! The only gripe I had was that it was hard to find a completely full game. You know what that means? Go download it and play!

Decent Apps

$4.99
Modern Combat: Sandstorm

by Gameloft

Ok, I'm only going to judge this on it's newly implanted multi-player. Right off the bat, while reviewing these games I noticed you couldn't play this on 3G so I had to wait till I got home to use my wifi. It does play over bluetooth if you're into that. When I did finally log on, I was pleasantly surprised. The graphics were pretty good and the modern combat feel of things came through. Aiming down the sights is also something I've grown to NEED in my FPS lifestyle because of Call of Duty. The game supports 4 people at a time on 3 maps in Deathmatch OR Team Deathmatch. Which is ok, but nothing special. There is a really nice way to make games so that you can choose if the health regenerates, how much time is on the clock and how many kills the match will go up to. For weapons there are 4 classes to choose from; Infantry, Close Range, Long Range and Heavy. I forget which class gets Flashbangs, but I was excited just to seem the included. All the classes have their strengths and weaknesses but a main weakness of the whole game is running speed. You move SO slow, combat is a drag. If your getting shot at, you're dead. There is no ducking, hiding or trying to get around cover. If your heavy, you might as well just sit wherever you are and wait for them to come to you. I couldn't get past the overall speed of the game so I have to give it a black mark for that. So to sum up: No 3G capability and only 3 online maps. Fix that and this game has some serious potential to challenge the likes of NOVA and Archetype in my rankings.
$4.99
Call of Duty: Zombies

by Activision Publishing, Inc.

While this is an FPS, its not competitive. The game starts you off with 3 other people in a location that you have to hold down from hordes of incoming zombies. Using barricades, weapon upgrades and a constant flow of room to room fighting, you'll waste tons of time trying to beat your old high score. This is probably my favorite zombie game of all time on the xbox and it's ported perfect over to the iDevice market. So why did I rate it so low? Price. For $10 bucks you can buy all the best shooters in this list. But thats only for the first map! To buy additional maps, you need additional money. Something to the tune of $5.00 a map. Thats 20 bucks for all three maps! I'm sorry, but for that reason alone I can't recommend it to anyone less than a hardcore fanboy of the COD franchise. A final nail in the coffin is that it's only available to play over wifi, and even that has its troubles as there is no lobby system in the game, so if someone leaves mid game, you're screwed. I don't think I've played a game yet where all 4 people stayed in the map.
Free
High Noon

by Happylatte

High Noon Stars & Stripes needs a mention for its unique gameplay. You are a wildwest gunslinger trying to make a name for yourself by winning duels and stealing money. There are a variety of items and weapons you can acquire to make your life easier and to top it all off, IT'S FREE! The one downside is, your skill can be "bought" at higher levels. Without spending real money on the game, you can only get so far before paid players smite you down. The reviews are nothing but spectacular, so if you are looking for something different, check it out. The reason I put it so low is that its less of a shooter and more of a quickdraw challenge. Still deserves a mention though.