Kick Ass Commandos is an Intense Action-Packed Dual-Stick Shooter

In terms of visual design, Kick Ass Commandos is beautiful with a retro 16-bit pixel art aesthetic. The game is rendered completely in 2D with a top-down perspective, so you can see everything in a single glance. The game is full of bright and vibrant colors that are eye appealing. Character sprites and environments are amazingly detailed and full of realistic textures. Animations are buttery smooth and fluid on my iPhone 8 Plus, so there's no lag or choppiness with all of the on-screen action. There's also a heavy metal soundtrack that's sure to get your blood pumping for some intense shootouts. The sound effects are also rather realistic, which is fitting on top of the cartoonish visuals.

Kick Ass Commandos is a game that you probably don't expect much in terms of story, because all you want to do is shoot and blow stuff up. However, there is a plot behind everything, surprisingly enough. In Kick Ass Commandos, you learn that the enemy's been spreading their addictive Krystal Yayo across the globe, which turns everyone into mindless zombies. You've been chosen to lead the resistance and rescue your comrades while putting an end to their production of Krystal Yayo.

With Kick Ass Commandos, players will find six different mission packs, which are essentially chapters. There's a unique themed area for each pack, such as lush jungles, icy frozen tundras, or desert wastelands. All mission packs contain about nine levels to play through, and there's different objectives to do on each before it's considered complete. These can range from simple things like getting to a helicopter to more difficult rescue missions. You can start any mission pack you want, but the levels are only available in linear order, so you have to finish one in order to unlock the next one.

Controls in Kick Ass Commandos is simple and intuitive. If you've played dual-stick shooters before, then you'll know how this works. In the bottom left is the joystick for your character's movement. In the bottom right is the joystick for aiming and shooting. Both are not fixed, so they'll follow wherever your fingers are on the screen. A crosshair is shown on the screen to indicate where you're aiming, which is helpful.

One of the coolest things about Kick Ass Commandos is the fact that the environments are destructible. This means as you shoot your way through hordes of enemies, your surroundings are also affected, so things will blow up and get destroyed in the crossfire.

As you traverse through the terrain, you'll encounter other commandos who are trapped in cages. You'll want to bust those open and run over to the units to rescue them, and they'll also join your rag tag team. When you rescue other commandos, they'll follow you and attack in unison with you. This extra firepower is greatly needed when you face off against the tough bosses that await you.

When you take hits from the enemy, your health will drop. You can recover health by picking up green health boxes that drop from fallen foes, or by destroying wooden boxes and crates scattered about. There are also red power-up boxes that grant you rocket launchers, grenades, flamethrowers, and other insane weapons for a brief period.

There are 10 playable commandos that you can unlock, and each one has their own unique skills and specialities. They play style for each of them will vary in some ways, so it's recommended to try each one out as they become available to find the one you like the most. As you play each character, they'll earn experience when a mission is successfully completed. The commandos can earn upgrade points as they level up, which are used to increase their skills, such as health, armor, damage output, and more.

Kick Ass Commandos is definitely a fun time killer if you enjoy over-the-top action shooters. The game's vintage pixel art style is a nice throwback to the classic games of yesteryear, and the metal soundtrack gets your adrenaline going. The controls are simple and intuitive, and since the joysticks aren't fixed, you won't have a problem if your thumbs start straying away from the bottom corners. The mission system is straightforward and streamlined, offering plenty of challenge for everyone. There's plenty of variety between the mission packs and commandos so things are kept fresh and interesting, and the explosions just keep on coming.

For the most part, Kick Ass Commandos is a great dual-stick shooter. However, the controls do take some time to get used to due to the sensitivity of aiming. There's no customizable options for the controls, so the only thing you can do about it is to practice and get used to it. Hopefully the developers can consider customizable control sensitivity in the future.

Overall, Kick Ass Commandos is proving to be an excellent way to pass the time. I love the old-school, modernized graphics, and the soundtrack is downright awesome. While the controls do take some time to get used to, it's fairly straightforward and works well enough for the most part. I just hope to see a bit more customization options added in the future in case some prefer tweaking the sensitivity. The missions themselves are intense and challenging, and there's plenty of replay value here.

I highly recommend giving Kick Ass Commandos a try if you're looking for an over-the-top shooter to check out. You can find Kick Ass Commandos on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $2.99 for a limited time (normal price is $4.99). There are no in-app purchases.