Game Reviews

Who's That Flying?!

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iOS
| Who's That Flying?!
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Who's That Flying?!
|
iOS
| Who's That Flying?!

Back in the day, adrenalin junkies could count on intense twitch shooters.

Arcades were filled with fast-paced, explosion-packed shooters – the kind with so many bullets onscreen that you’d be lucky to find an empty space to hide. They were a dime a dozen, but the classic shooter seems to have died with the arcades themselves.

Who’s That Flying?! or – wait for it – WTF?! harks back to the ‘80s arcades and manages to be both frustratingly fun and frantically fulfilling. Even arcade masters will be walking away with sore thumbs.

Shoot, shoot, shoot

Set in a comic universe, Who’s That Flying?! stars an invincible alien trying to protect Earth. The goal here isn’t to survive, but to kill the enemies before they leave the screen. Each missed enemy hurts the city. Once the city dies, you’ve failed.

The controls are simple: slide your finger to move as enemies come from right to left. You're continuously shooting, so there’s no need to tap the screen (aside from the occasional bonus sequences). Take out enough enemies in a row and you build up a nice, satisfying super blast.

Big trouble on the little screen

The bare-bones setup works really well considering the onscreen chaos. The enemies are furry, chomping mouths, and they run deep into packs. The first cities are just posses of mouths, but the later levels bring bigger, badder enemies, like goo-spitting beasts and laser-blasting monsters.

You’re invincible, but a hit from an enemy will stun you – and leave the city vulnerable to attack. Each level ends with an epic boss battle, and the monster is supported by dozens of little mouths.

Who’s That Flying?! looks gorgeous on the iPod/iPhone and is an absolute stunner on the iPad. The big, colorful visuals take up the screen and the intimidating bosses look good.

We found the controls better on the iPhone, likely because there isn’t as much on-screen real estate to cover: remember, the game is about stopping every enemy, so moving across the iPhone screen is a lot faster than traversing the iPad one. You can adjust the screen sensitivity, which helps a bit.

The game is a universal app, so the choice is yours whether you want to play on the small screen or the big screen.

Comic relief

The whole package here is slick and funny. The levels are broken up by comic sequences and the gameplay itself is chock full of cheeky humour. It's hard not to laugh at our hero’s hubris and his equally funny smackdowns.

The humour here actually makes the difficulty easier to swallow. The first city, New York, is easy enough, but Tokyo and the following cities really turn up the heat. We’re talking a hundred bullets flying onscreen at once.

It's a beautiful chaos that will feel great to hardcore gamers, but casual folks may put it down after a few minutes. Who’s That Flying?! is an excellent choice for gamers who like to sweat.

Who's That Flying?!

Who's That Flying?! is tough, old skool fun
Score
Damon Brown
Damon Brown
Damon Brown has been speaking the mobile game gospel since 2003 for Playboy, New York Post, and many other outlets. Damon writes books when he isn't busy gaming or Twittering. His most popular book is Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.