Game Reviews

MetalStorm: Aces

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iOS
| MetalStorm: Aces
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MetalStorm: Aces
|
iOS
| MetalStorm: Aces

There's always something exhilarating about airborne combat. Dogfight simulators done right can create the perfect mix between the tension of the chase and the satisfaction of the kill.

And while MetalStorm: Aces doesn't quite get everything right, the relief you feel as your missiles crash into the side of your opponent and he explodes in a shower of flaming metallic chunks is almost palpable.

There are struggles on the way to that relief, and the simplification of the controls might leave flight sim fans a little bored, but if you're looking for a solid arcade blaster you could do much worse.

Plane shooting

The game casts you as a rookie pilot who's betrayed by his flight team and left for dead. With a battered old plane and a mechanic at your disposal you set about taking revenge on the people who've done you wrong.

You control your plane by tilting your device, tapping buttons to fire, and swiping a finger across the screen to perform barrel rolls.

The campaign is set across a number of bite-sized levels. Some of these are about killing as many planes as you can, while others are about speed, destroying targets on the ground, or just staying alive for a set amount of time.

They're fun, and brief enough to fit nicely into a bus journey. There's a star rating system too, and if you perform well enough in the levels you unlock the boss battle at the end of each section.

None of the tasks is particularly challenging, and while you will fail a couple of times here and there you still accrue cash and experience when you do.

There's a Survival mode that sees you trying to shoot down as many waves as you can before you catch one too many missiles in the fuselage and crash.

Missile lock

A neat one-on-one multiplayer mode sees you facing off against opponents via Game Center. Encounters are fraught and often end up with a curving aerial game of ever-reversing cat and mouse as you try and get a missile lock on your foe.

MetalStorm: Aces isn't perfect. Sometimes the controls are a little too imprecise, and the simple arrows that show you where your targets are aren't great either.

Still, it's a good-looking, fun arcade game that should scratch any plane-based-violence itch for a little while.

MetalStorm: Aces

A simple and entertaining airborne blaster, MetalStorm: Aces isn't revolutionary, but it's pretty enjoyable
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.