Hands on with Meteor Blitz on iPhone

Everything in the universe is made of the same stuff, yet tiny variations in how the elemental building blocks are put together result in the difference between a star and a planet. Meteor Blitz is made from the same compound as fellow twin-stick shooter Super Stardust Portable, though it looks to burn brighter with iPhone-specific refinements.

In the never-ending battle for Earth's independence against an alien aggressor, Meteor Blitz puts you in control of a tiny spaceship equipped with an array of weapons. Firing them off is a matter of sliding your thumb over a virtual analogue stick in the lower-right while moving your ship via a second stick in the lower-left corner.

The controls are amazingly responsive in terms of movement, though weapons fire feel less precise. Sliding the left analogue stick yields quick, fluid movement - it makes darting between crashing meteors and swarms of enemies easy.

Weapons fire is more angular. Twirling your thumb around doesn't result in a circle of fire, but rather a series of angled shots. As a result, you come to increasingly rely on positioning your ship in concert with the right analogue stick for attacks.

Meteor-busting machine gun fire, ice bullets, and a flamethrower can be used to destroy a variety of enemies. A stock of bombs capable of obliterating everything in sight is also at your disposal, as well as a gravity beam that can be used to grab and then fling enemies.

Predictably, certain foes exhibit a weakness for a specific weapon. Triangular ice ships, for instance, are melted down with the flamethrower, while red-hot meteors are best broken down using ice bullets. Any weapon functions against an enemy, but there's a noticeable difference in efficacy. Switch to the right weapon and you blast apart an enemy with one shot instead of two or three.

The gravity beam comes in handy when squaring up against bosses who chuck gray meteoroids at your ship. A double-tap of the right analogue stick triggers the gravity beam, which seizes anything in range. Another double-tap and you fling the object in the desired direction.

Boss battles come at the end of each stage, of which there are five for each of the game's six worlds in Arcade mode. Beginning in orbit around Earth, you then fly to more exotic locations including a planet with a seemingly molten surface and another completely frosted over. Once you've unlocked a world, you're free to start a new game in Arcade mode from the planet - no need to start from scratch.

Upgrades, acquired by spending rings collected from defeated enemies, are persistent across games in Arcade mode too. Between levels you can spend the rings you've amassed, purchasing improvements to your weapons, boost, and movement speed.

Similarities to Super Stardust Portable cannot be ignored, despite the ways in which Meteor Blitz promises to evolve the formula. The mimicry is undeniable: the arsenal is near identical, the worlds are remarkably similar, the use of meteors in levels is the same, and even the concept of weapons upgrades parallel the PSP game.

Meteor Blitz may very well get away with such borrowing because it manages to improve - if ever so slightly - on its inspiration. Control is more responsive, upgrades are more in-depth, and the way in which high scores are tracked in real-time via the network may end up toppling the competition when it blitzes the App Store later this month.