These Aliens Aren't Faster Than Lightning Fighter
Lightning Fighter ($0.99) by Uwan Studio is a shoot 'em up (shmup) arcade game for the iPhone done beautifully. Aliens have invaded Earth, what's new, right? And, it's up to the ultimate weapon, the Lightning Fighter, to defeat them once and for all.
There are three different fighters to choose from, however, only one comes standard; the rest you must purchase. Once you pick your fighter, you can choose a difficulty level — easy, normal, or hard — and then go get 'em! Let's go blow up some aliens!
Lightning Fighter reminds me of the semi-recent bullet hell release, Absolute Instant, but with better controls. To control your fighter, just tilt your device. But, wait. That's not all. As soon as you touch the screen, you control movement by touch instead. The game senses whether or not you're touching the screen and adapts.
No need to worry about shooting, as with all bullet hell games, the fire power is automatic. There are three types of weapons, though, each having its own special attacks. You can lock on to targets with lasers, fire missiles at the enemy ships, and shoot repeatedly with the wide-ranged bullets. To change weapons, just tap the buttons on the screen.
There are seven levels, each with challenging gameplay that builds up to a major boss fight. It has full Game Center and OpenFeint support, so you achievement-hungry folks will be more than satisfied.
Lightning Fighter is currently on sale in the App Store for $0.99 for the iPhone. The price will be going up to $1.99 at some point, so get it while you can. However, if you're still not sure about it, you can always give the free version a try first.
The graphics are fantastic and the music really gets you in the "pew pew" mood. As far as shmups go, I really enjoyed this one and will keep it around. At least until I beat it, that is.
