Galactic Gunner

The gunner in a real fighter aircraft has an important job to do, and while no one is entirely safe when speeding through the wide blue in the heat of battle, the gunner was generally in the least favourable position: he needed to be able to stare the enemy directly in the eye.

It's a job that hasn't been represented well enough in aerial combat games since most of us prefer the glamour of being Maverick, rather than playing Goose from the back of the cockpit.

Galactic Gunner makes a light-hearted effort to correct this oversight, and despite its tongue in cheek approach to deep space combat it genuinely captures the stomach-churning sensation of trying to shoot straight while spinning in all directions.

The game features full voice acting, your captain explaining the intricacies of dogfighting and the objectives for each mission in an affable Australian drawl. "You are the gunner (mate)," your captain explains. "Leave the flying to me."

It's easy to feel a bit disappointed at this revelation, but the yoke is completely out of your hands, essentially making Galactic Gunner an on-rails shooter.

Approaching the game with this in mind puts you in a far better frame of mind to enjoy the raw blast-‘em-to-bits gameplay and get on board with the entertainingly glib attitude the narrative takes.

Shooting is a matter of tapping the screen where you want to send a volley of lasers. The trick is to maintain a high level of accuracy while being buffeted around by the pilot. A minimum score is required to unlock the next level, which is determined by the percentage of targets destroyed coupled with your hit rate.

There are only seven levels (well, missions), but your captain is a strict taskmaster and demands some impressive shooting even in the early rounds, so it's not exactly a hypersonic walk in the park. There's some decent variety, ranging from practice shootouts against drones to navigating asteroid fields (or "arse-teroids" as your Aussie captain calls them) and even defending space stations against alien invaders.

Space has rarely looked as attractive as it does in Galactic Gunner, with the otherwise boring black vacuum brought to a vivid, organic life with nebulae, suns, planets and explosions lighting up the perpetual night sky. While this makes Galactic Gunner an audio-visual feast, it does suffer from the occasional framerate issue as the action ramps up.

It's not a huge problem, and it shouldn't be a dealbreaker if you’re considering this game, but the stuttering action can have an adverse effect on your accuracy. Hopefully this is one of those iPhone launch bugs that will be fixed sharpish, and if the developer keeps offering additional missions, I feel confident that we'll all keep playing.

Roger and out, Bruce.