Cell War, a new side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up from TipCat Mobile, has reached the app store. Stunning graphics, terrific controls, and interesting enemies converge to create an enjoyable game with plenty of character.
Cell War puts you in control of a tiny spaceship which travels through the microworld. Viruses of all shapes and sizes threaten to destroy your ship, but you are prepared for them. There are 9 stages where you must fight off the invading baddies, with three skill levels from which to choose. As you increase the difficulty, you’ll encounter more enemies on-screen at any given time, splitting your focus and challenging you to stay alive. Enemies shoot little yellow balls at you that must be avoided, as they don’t seem to be able to be destroyed by your weapons. Destroying enemies leaves behind objects which must be collected if a cure is to be found to eradicate the nasty viruses that you are fighting. Fly close enough to the objects and they will be pulled into your ship. If you’re lucky enough to make it through the throngs of viruses, you’ll encounter bosses at the middle and end of the levels. These are obviously bigger and more difficult to kill than the smaller viruses, adding another great challenge to this fun game.
The game has a very polished, sleek look about it, with great shading effects and bold colors. The detail adds realism to the environments, making it feel as if you could be travelling through some organic body. Touching the cell boundaries for any period of time reduces your life. When you are almost dead, the screen borders start glowing red, allowing you to sense the impending doom of your own demise. The sounds in the game are pretty cool, too, from the shooting and blowing up sound effects to the background music. The soundtrack feels very appropriate and fits well with the theme. Controls are simple and well-implemented. Your ship autofires, with new weapons able to be picked up from time to time. Tilt to move. Touch an enemy to fire a homing missile. Hold the bottom corners of the screen to drop a sonic boom that destroys all enemies within a small radius of your ship. It couldn’t be simpler. There is an option to calibrate the device, if necessary.
Replayability is decent, as online leaderboards give you an incentive to play toward. Levels seem a bit short, but difficulty levels can make it seem like a whole new game. There are a bunch of side-scrolling shoot-‘em-ups in the app store, but Cell War has a great deal of polish and pizzazz that make it a worthy competitor for top dog. At $2.99, it’s a bit expensive for the genre, though we feel that this is a fair price for the game. Cell War takes home a solid 4-Dimple score.
Cell War gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating:
