Cowboys & Aliens

It says something about the uncomfortable nature of Cowboys & Aliens's first few minutes that once the aliens make an appearance it's something of a relief.

The opening scene of this action-shooter acts as a tutorial, letting you move from one batch of native Americans to another, killing them indiscriminately.

Things don't change a great deal when the game finally kicks off, but it's infinitely preferable to be shooting at aliens armed with sophisticated technology than it is to be shooting at men with hardly any clothes on.

Racial issues aside, Cowboys & Aliens's biggest misdemeanor is not the nature of its enemies, but rather the fact it plays like its been built from some sort of plastic kit.

All the right elements are here: you move around 2D levels shooting at anything that approaches you with the '5' key, while also looting jewels and picking up scraps of food as you go.

Your attacks are balanced between firing your guns – which gradually ramp up after every level – and using your whip, flung out by pressing '0'.

Naturally, all of your progress is highly scripted. The enemy doesn't attack en masse, but rather approaches in small packs, popping up on cue as you wind your way through each stage.

Likewise, each encounter is more difficult than the last as you get to grips with its approach.

None of this is especially new or engaging. For starters, the controls tend to fall apart as soon as the battles heat up.

Cowboys & Aliens makes a point of aiming for you, but the game loses track when you're surrounded, pointing you in the wrong direction entirely on occasion.

Even worse, the game's supposed signature move – pulling in a rival with your whip before shooting him down with your gun – rarely works.

More often than not, the game's auto-aim fails at the crucial moment, forcing you to pull back from such set pieces and hammer the '5' key.

The plot built around your progress ensures such repetition isn't without reward, but there's no getting away from the feeling that Gameloft's Cowboys & Aliens is a bit by-the-numbers, merely delivering the kind of adventure people will expect from a film license rather than doing anything extraordinary with it.