The developers at Plasq recently released a new space battle game into the App Store under the title Pharos IV: Assault.

Pharos has given its players the elite responsibility of protecting humanity against danger from attacking alien foes.

Fortunately, you’re equipped with an array of high tech devices aboard your fighter ship. Weapons range from Dual Photon Torpedoes and Missiles to an Electromagnetic Pulse. A Scanner is available that assists in navigation and enemy location. All steering controls are handled via the accelerometer while speed reacts to a throttle control on the left of the screen.

Pharos IV challenges with three types of enemy fighters, each with different strengths: Raiders, Intruders, and Marauders. Once level 4 is reached, Pharos IV introduces Destroyers into the mix. These monsters can only be destroyed by missiles fired into the main beam generator.

As players progress through the successive levels, their aim and maneuvering should improve. This will allow them to take out enemies faster while sustaining less damage to their star craft. Upon depletion of energy resources, the game ends returning the player to level 1. Thankfully, energy can be recharged by collecting resources throughout travels. Find them using the Scanner and collect using the Tractor Beam.

So, what did the AppSmile team think of Pharos IV? Let’s just say we’re looking forward to updates. While the space craft are well designed and accurately three dimensional, other graphic elements seemed sub-par. Players are only offered a single view that presents a rather confusing flat instrument panel. Weapons and other controls are oddly arranged and not all are labeled. We found ourselves returning to the Help Menu to identify which button represented what. Even worse, the only way we found to bring up the Help Menu was to exit and reload the game. Yikes!

On the up side, Pharos IV gives players a beautiful image of the environment they explore. Yet, here again, a positive aspect quickly fades. The environment image is just that -- one large picture that adjusts in two dimensions only.

As far as audio goes, the best decision Plasq made is allowing iTunes to play in the background. This will override the game’s one-song soundtrack. Sound effects can be adjusted in either mode.

After spending some time with the game, we found Pharos IV: Assault to be a shallow attempt at space adventure.

Pharos IV: Assault gets our AppSmile 3-Dimple rating: