Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus

If you're going to win a war, you'd best be unpredictable. Making attack after attack using the same strategy tends to lead to your downfall.

Or, if you're Field Marshal Douglas Haig, wins the battle eventually, but results in luminaries rubbishing your entire career once you're long gone.

When it comes to video games, however, delivering a sense of fluidity is no easy task. Most war sims, however complex, remain a series of pre-determined triggers – some are simply better at hiding them than others.

Somewhat uniquely, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus makes no attempt to cloak its rigid approach. Instead, it tries to celebrate it.

Though 2D in nature, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus has the feel of an on-rails shooter. As directed, you pass from one area to the next, tapping '5' to gun down the opposition as they dart into view.

It's possible to shoot at will, though much of play is designed to encourage sneak attacks, firing only when a target locks on to an enemy and turns red. Either way, it's quite possible to steamroller your way through, leaping over ledges and charging into the action with abandon without losing too much health.

Indeed, play is fairly generous when it comes to dishing out treats. Health packs and weapons are dropped off if and when they're needed, and the whole experience feels designed to guide you through and keep you on board rather than throw heaps of hurdles in your direction.

But that feeds into the whole old skool feel that lingers from start to finish. Everything from Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus's setting (the game telling the tale of four American diplomats assassinated by South American rebels) to the scripted nature of the levels feels pre-Modern Warfare.

This is no run on realism. Instead, Gameloft has compiled a box of tricks, but each one designed to offer enough variety to keep you entertained, if not challenged.

For instance, standard running-and-shooting action is often broken up by more hectic affairs, where you take charge of a stationary gun and fend off attacks from all sides.

None of this, however, is fresh. Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus acts as a greatest hits collection, compiling every element you've ever taken on in a 2D shooter and lumping it together in a neat, but uninspiring package.

As a result, if you've ever attempted a mobile shooter before, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus will feel like a return journey.