Violet Storm

Given that video gaming is well over 30 years old now, it almost goes without saying that most modern releases are clearly influenced by the classics. However, few games display their inspiration as brazenly as Violet Storm.

It only takes a glance to confirm that this shooter owes a massive debt to the late Bizarre Creations's Geometry Wars. It shares the same neon-infused wire-frame visuals, hypnotically pulsing special effects, and twin-stick blasting gameplay.

Your ship is anchored to the centre of the screen, and you move it around using the left-hand virtual pad. The direction of your guns is controlled by the right-hand pad, which means you can move one way and blast in the other.

Where Violet Storm differs from Geometry Wars is the nature of the environment. Instead of throwing up walls that hem you in Violet Storm offers an endlessly sprawling space field, thereby removing the need to avoid colliding with barriers. This change might seem small, but it affects how you play the game.

The standard game mode in Violet Storm sees you eliminating waves of enemies and attempting to rack up the highest score, which you can then upload to a global leaderboard.

Another mode pits you against the clock, giving you limited time to blast as many hostiles as possible. The third mode is called Sniper, and here it's your accuracy that is under the test. You ship is given a super-powerful weapon, but you have to make every blast count.

Violet Storm also boasts power-up items and smart bombs to spice up the action, but it never really seems to get the pulse racing as it should. Perhaps it's the open-plan levels, which never seem to cause the same feelings of tense claustrophobia as those walled-in stages in Geometry Wars.

Or perhaps it's just that Violet Wars isn't a particularly deep experience. Even on the later levels it never becomes very difficult, and the lack of variety means you're likely to grow bored sooner rather than later.

With so many twin-stick blasters available on iOS, there's little reason to recommend this attractive but shallow shooter.