Mortal Skies 2 Review

Friday, September 30, 2011

Mortal Skies 2 Review

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Mortal Skies 2 Review

By Jason Wadsworth on September 30th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: SPUTTERS
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

A 2D arcade shooter, loosely based on World War II.

Developer: Erwin Jansen

Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3GS

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.13 out of 5 stars

Mortal Skies 2 is almost formulaic in it’s adherence to the 2D arcade shoot rulebook. This game is exactly what players would expect from a top down arcade shooter, and there is very little in the game that would surprise players or set it apart from other titles in the genre.

Players control their aircraft by touch by moving their finger around the screen. The plane follows and fires its weapons automatically. The player must avoid enemies, bullets, missiles, rockets, bombs and various other obstacles as they fight their way from level to level. Weapon power-ups, shields, health and invincibility pick-ups are dropped by some enemies and the player can pick these up to make their aircraft more powerful.

Game’s of this type are not generally very easy games, and Mortal Skies 2 is no exception. However, the difficulty reaches a frustrating level even in the first level. There is a difficulty slider that can be adjusted in the settings menu that apparently boasts one hundred different difficulty level, but this doesn’t seem to really change the difficulty as much as one would expect. Players can unlock new planes via in-app purchase that could possible make the difficulty more manageable. They can also unlock all the game’s levels via in-app purchase. To this reviewer it seems like a slap in the face to make a game so difficult that players need to make extra purchases to enjoy the majority of the game, but game difficulty is so relative that one can’t make a critical assessment based solely on difficulty.

Difficulty issues aside, this game is exactly what players should expect from a World War II themed shooter and not much else. There planes and weapons are interesting and the game controls well. The visuals are on par with many other shooters of similar scope and as long as players aren’t concerned with historical accuracy they will likely enjoy the game design. The large bosses are particularly well designed. While it may not have much in the way of unique gameplay, Mortal Skies 2 is a competent arcade shooter, even if it is on the more difficult end of the spectrum.