Ever since the success of Geometry Wars, the
twin stick shooter has become a staple of
the iPhone's game library. Many games have
tried to capture the same feeling of fun and
visual excitement, and even Geometry Wars
itself got released with a great reception.
Infinity Field is Chillingo's entry into this
genre and they've pretty much hit the ball
out of the park.
The first thing you'll notice when you load
up either one of the many game modes or the
campaign is how tight the controls are. Weaving
around the screen and narrowly avoiding enemies
is a hassle free experience. In other games,
there has been an issue with the player's
thumbs taking up valuable screen space and
obscuring incoming enemies, but in the default
graphical mode (one of four available), the
camera travels lower than the bottom of the
game field so your thumbs aren't in the way.
The campaign itself takes you through short
bursts of the game's many modes and includes
boss fights, and upgrading your ship and weapons.
If you'd like to see everything the game has
to offer right out of the gate, the survival
mode is available with such game variations
as unarmed, insane mode, snake, and zombie;
each putting a small gameplay spin on the
initial mechanics. As you fly around and raise
your multiplier, satchel drops that can be
collected for upgrades and bonuses roam the
field. These range from extra lives and bombs
to new weapons, helpers, and even force fields
and putting the game in slow motion.
Graphically the game evokes Geometry Wars
with its colored shapes and over-abundance
of screen warping and particle effects. Just
like it's inspiration, sometimes there's so
much going on that you end up running into
an enemy hiding amongst the bursts of color,
but it's a small price to pay for such visual
flair. The electronica soundtrack will keep
your adrenaline pumping, but more music would
have been a nice addition.
Unless you've had your fill of twin stick
shooters or the visuals of this game are too
much for you, there's no reason why this wouldn't
be a great addition to any iPhone gamer's
library.
