Space Retro Is A Generic Top-Down Shooter
Space Retro ($0.99) by Pundora Studios is a fairly generic top-down space shooter that resembles a lot of other games already in the App Store.
The goal is to blast enemies out of the sky, while avoiding getting hit with their projectiles, which is done by moving your ship with a finger. You also need to pick up items dropped by enemy ships, which add to your score.
You have three lives, meaning you can get hit three times before it’s game over. If you do end up losing all three ships, the game gives you the option to continue by taking 5000 points from your score, which is a nice touch.
Space Retro starts out easily enough, and I wish I could say that the difficulty ramps up, but it really doesn’t. As far as shooters go, this one is ranging on the easy side because the pace is slow and there’s not much to dodge.
Some levels will have boss fights, which are also simple to complete as long as you’re quick to dodge the super slow bullets. When you complete levels, you will earn credits, which are used to buy new weapons and upgrades in the shop, like dot missiles, gun power ups, and shields.
There are some short cutscenes between levels, explaining the plot line, which involves attacking aliens and defending the earth, but you can skip them with a tap. Most of them were riddled with grammar and spelling errors, which need to be fixed in an update.
This game may not be bringing anything new to the shooter genre, but it’s got nice looking retro graphics and well-designed sprites, plus some decent gameplay and good controls.
Unfortunately, there are only five stages and ten levels, making this otherwise lackluster game short as well. With more content, a better pace, a higher difficulty level, and a bit of tweaking, Space Retro might be a great game. In its current form I would not recommend purchasing Space Retro because there are so many competitors out there with better offerings in the same genre.
