Review: Tunnel Shoot - Blast Through The Worm Hole
by Staff Writer
June 25, 2010
Overview
Tunnel Shoot is a collaboration between Backflip Studios, Paper Toss & Ragdoll Blaster, and Team Phobic, Bounce On 1 & 2. The game is a tunnel based space shooter where you fly through a pipe shooting at enemies and dodging obstacles. You have a plasma blaster at your disposal to blast through enemies as you try to make it as far as you can.
Features
The game is all about your multiplier which you build by destroying enemies without losing a life. You get three lives per game, and your health regenerates slowly over time. Plus+ is included for online high scores and achievements. Tunnel Shoot is a universal app that runs natively on the iPhone and iPad, and even has a native iPhone 4 resolution. You tilt to steer your ship, and tap or hold to fire your weapon. You also have bombs that you shoot by tapping with two fingers.
The Good
From the first second you're hurtling down the tunnel you'll instantly be hooked on the nonstop action. The game is packed with fun by providing a simple pick up play mechanic that has plenty of challenge to keep you engaged throughout. The controls are very intuitive and allow for pinpoint precision to enhance the simple pick up and play style. The tunnel is constantly twisting and turning to hide what's around the bend. Once you get close enough you see multiple waves of varied enemies that are in various formations, and occasionally sliding around. The enemies you can blast through, but soon you'll reach obstacles that you'll have to avoid.
There is a great risk reward mechanic where you can choose to be more aggressive going after enemies and earn more points and build your multiplier quicker. Or you can try to avoid, and fire on ahead to simply clear a path rather than clearing all enemies. As you get further down the tunnel there will be more and more enemies and the strategies will blend together to sheer survival any way you can.
The game constantly keeps your attention as you're blasting away enemies, and avoiding sudden obstacles. The best aspect is the multiplier which you will need to build up to get anywhere near the highest scores, and once you're multiplier reaches seven your score will add up quickly. The inclusion of Plus+ is great to go for high scores and achievements to add more incentive to the game.
Replay is high with an intrinsic 'one more time' feel to the game simply trying to beat your last score, and knowing exactly where to try to improve. Each time you play will be plenty of fun as you never know what exactly is around the next bend. The health regeneration, three lives, and bullets that go until they hit something really help make the game fun rather than frustrating, and definitely should be commended.
The game is designed very well to give you a great looking space environment with some nice neon flair to it. The 3D engine flows effortlessly even with tons of enemies on screen. It's great to see the enemies shatter as you hit them, and all the various geometry based shapes are nice to see.
If you own an iPhone and iPad this is a great game to buy to really get some bang for your buck. Even if you only own one or the other it's a great game, and the iPad presents such an immersive experience you will fell like your right there flying down the tunnel. Not to be forgotten is that it's compatible with iOS 4 to give you multi-tasking, and fast app switching to jump right back into tunnel shoot even when checking other apps.
