Trigger Fist

The stumbling block when it comes to third- or first-person shooters on a touchscreen device is always going to be the controls. They're simply not responsive and precise enough to compared with button-and-stick controls.

Trigger Fist attempts to counter this in an unusual and surprisingly effective way. It gets rid of the Y axis, setting its fast-paced battles on an entirely horizontal plane. It might sound stupid, but it actually leads to one of the best shooters available on the App Store.

The action takes place from a third-person perspective, and casts you as a grunt, all heavy weapons and combat fatigues. There's no story - just a variety of pitched battles to play through in single-player with bots or with real people online.

You move around with a floating joystick on the bottom-left of the screen, and fire with a red button on the right. Swiping left and right on the rest of the screen lets you look around, while dragging a finger up or down will make you crouch and stand up.

Fights are fast and focused. You have a tiny health bar, and it only takes a few shots to knock you down. But rapid respawns mean you're never out of the action for very long, and the flimsy nature of your assailants makes for swift, satisfying carnage.

There are three classes to choose from - Rifleman, Gunner, and Scout - all with their own strengths and weaknesses, and all with different perks and weapons to unlock. You can do this as you play, or by splashing some real cash.

The speed of the violence means no one really has an edge, with better weapons and more health letting you last a little longer, but by no means swaying the game unfairly in your favour. A level one player can still kill the highest ranked soldier in the game in a couple of seconds.

Four different game modes offer up a neat selection of violence for your delectation. There are the standard free-for-all and team deathmatch modes, a king of the hill mode, and a delightfully insane variation on capture the flag involving a sacred goat that you need to give piggy backs to.

Bouts never seem to drag, and the smash-bang speed of proceedings means you don't have too long to dwell over a defeat before you're thrown into the next round.

Clever little touches add to the excitement, like the way the radar flashes up when enemy gunfire is near, always dragging you to the heart of the fire fight.

Each level is brilliantly designed - full of choke points and cover, wide open spaces, and nooks and crannies for sneaky snipers to hide in, but still small enough that a great position can only be exploited for a few kills before someone roots you out.

A lot of people are going to claim that Trigger Fist is the first console-worthy shooter on iOS, but they're spectacularly missing the point. This is the first shooter that works within the confines of the hardware to deliver an experience that's unique to touchscreen devices.

It's tough, brutal, and entices you back to your feet after every kill with the promise of swift and delicious revenge. This isn't a console shooter - it's an iOS shooter, and it's bloody marvellous.

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