FlipShip Review

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

FlipShip Review

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FlipShip Review

By Carter Dotson on October 4th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: TILT TO IKARUGA
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

FlipShip is an arena survival game where players must flip between colors to take out enemies of the same color, racking up points and avoiding opposite-colored enemies.

Developer: ByteSize Games
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Device Reviewed On: iPod touch 4

Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While discussions of cloning and what constitutes proper appropriation of other games’ ideas have permeated through the court of public opinion of late, there are still games that can take inspiration from other games and still feel fresh. Meet the new arena survival game FlipShip, for example. This is an arena survival game, where there are enemies that will destroy the player on contact, and a ship that is controlled via tilt controls. However, the ship is not helpless – it has weapons that can destroy enemies that are the same color as it, though enemies of the other color can destroy it. In short, think Tilt to Live meets Treasure’s legendary shmup Ikaruga. As well, there are powerups that will fire shots at nearby enemies, destroy enemies in a nearby radius, and even slow down all the enemies.

FlipShip’s risk/reward combo system is what makes it so compelling. Each enemy destroyed is worth 7 additional points (and enemies of the opposite color destroyed through whatever method add to the combo, and are worth double points), but the points add up to a bank of points that is only deposited when the player flips colors. Is it worth flipping in order to bank a large combo, or is it worth trying to navigate out of trouble in order to make it even bigger? Death wipes it to zero, though thankfully the player gets multiple lives. The multiple ships, each with different speeds, weapons, and special attacks, allow the player to customize the experience. The developers have also said that an upcoming update will add unviersal support to the game.

The special attacks not particularly well-implemented into the game; it’s very easy to forget that they even exist while playing, as the icon is stowed away in the lower right corner of the screen. A more prominent indicator would help a lot to make them more useful. As well, tapping on that button when trying to flip in the heat of battle can lead to death! The game’s randomly generated colors and environments represent a potential hazard to colorblind users; choosing which colors to play with would be much-preferred.

FlipShip’s inspirations are clear, but the game does feel like something unique because of it. Fans of arena survival games like Tilt to Live, Hard Lines, and Silverfish ought to check this one out.