Overview
Dropship is an arcade shooter that reminds me of the old “moon lander” style games, only with lots more gunfire. Players will control a small ship making a risky grab n’ run mission. The three objectives are to save your stranded allies, acquire the green pod at the bottom of each level, and survive long enough to get the pod and your allies out. The standout feature of the game is its control scheme that allows you to touch anywhere to control movement and firing. Unfortunately, it’s this same feature that got in the way of some of the enjoyment.
Features
- Freeform “Touch Anywhere” Controls
When you place your thumb on the screen, a blue or yellow reticle shows up - you then move your thumb within that reticle to control movement or gunfire respectively. Attempting to mirror a dual analog control scheme on the iPhone is a great idea, but there are some drawbacks that I’ll discuss below.
- Old School Vector Graphics
Dropship features simplistic line graphics (think way back to Tank Commander or Tempest) that serve two purposes. It keeps the screen fairly clean and free of distraction, and enables the game to run at smooth speeds.
At the time of review, there were 5 downloadable maps available. These were mostly holiday themed, i.e. a level in the shape of a giant menorah. Whether or not ngmoco will offer continuing DLC (downloadable content) support for Dropship remains to be seen.
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Though the selection is fairly sparse, the game does offer an achievement system, mainly based off levels. Just like the original Xbox 360 Achievement system, the points don’t do anything except convey bragging rights.
Breakdown
The Good:
With Dropship, ngmoco has made a game that is (in my mind) a very clear attempt at bringing some of the things that are so successful on console games to the iPhone. The game’s controls emulate a dual analog stick setup, the DLC, the achievements - it all smacks of the Xbox 360. This isn’t a problem for me - it gives the game some familiarity and seems to make the statement that the game’s here to play with the big boys.
What’s more, Dropship actually manages to offer action gameplay that doesn’t feel canned. Enemy fire come from all sides, and especially when enemies show up that come straight at you like a heat-seeking missile, things can get a little frantic. Avoiding bullets as well as the walls is something that, though challenging, has to become automatic as you must also pick up your buddies (delicately, if you want to avoid damage) and maneuver the pod out of the level.
One touch that I thought was great was that each person you have to rescue bears the last name of someone from your contacts. Cresting an obstacle to see that the last person I had to rescue was my mom created an “oh man, awesome” feeling in my chest. This is another feature borrowed straight from the bigger consoles: On the Wii, the Miis you create will show up randomly in many games.
The Bad:
Unfortunately, the controls were a little tough to swallow. Though the attempt deserves serious respect, there are a few reasons why it just doesn’t measure up, and the fault lies as much with the hardware as the software. This is one situation where I’ll acknowledge that the lack of tactile controls is a big hindrance to the iPhone’s capabilities as a gaming platform. In order to control with any kind of precision, I had to place an undue amount of focus on making thrust corrections. The most consistent way to kill bad guys was to sweep their position with bullets, rather than just pointing and shooting.
The developers tried to help by providing the reticles to show where exactly the player is thrusting or shooting, but the problem is that when you move your thumb in a direction, the indicator showing exactly where you’re pointing is covered up by your thumb. This is going to be a problem for anyone trying to create a touch control system for the iPhone, especially one requiring small increments of movement.
Verdict
Dropship is most likely worth your dollar. This game does a lot right, tries to overcome the iPhone’s weaknesses, but falls a little short. I’d recommend checking it out, if only to see how you feel about dual analog controls without tactile feedback. In the face of the control issues, it still manages to be fun. If you enjoyed arcade games in their prime, I’m betting you’ll like this one. After I stopped worrying about the controls and just played the game, I had plenty of fun.
