Mobile Games

So shocking you'll want to break something?

My experience with mobile first-person shooters is not really a good one. This is partly due to the fiddly controls, especially when targeting enemies on higher or lower ground. This is not a problem for everyone though, rather the fact that my thumbs are trained analogue stick users. Can Break Shock convince me otherwise and produce a fluid and enjoyable shooting feast?

Break Shock doesn't go into too much plot detail and complexity, in act it does exactly the opposite. The objective is to seek and destroy a set amount of robots in a small environment. Destroying every last one of them will then open an exit door and allow you to move on to another series of robots in the next area, that's all there is too it.

There are no time limits, so you're free to play the level at your own pace. The robot enemies don't make too much of an effort to seek you out either, which is understandable as the aim is to seek and destroy them. On that note, receiving a thorough beating from the enemy gives you the chance to flee to a safer area knowing they won't chase you down. Although they do have a habit of appearing from nowhere to put a bullet in your back - damn machines don't understand how to fight face-to-face like men!

In your destructive inventory you have the standard futuristic gun that fires out orange balls, the standard laser gun that emits a blue beam and the rocket launcher, this shoots out a explosive orange ball. It's enough to see off the enemy, but none of the weapons are particularly memorable or even that fun to use.

The screen displays the usual health and remaining ammo as well as the body count, so you know how many more machines need to found and destroyed. In the unfortunate event that you do run out of ammo, or health is low, you can explore the level to find replenishments. These are usually floating in corners or on high platform, so it's best to explore every inch. Is not as if the levels contain too much detail or obstacles for items to be hiding behind, they are fairly basic and boring in-fact.

The cel-shaded detail of the gun looks nice, but somewhat out of place compared to the ugly, textures that fire out of it. Sadly the enemy robots and the environments also look very ugly and certainly wouldn't be out of place on the most ancient of gaming consoles. I can forgive the dodgy graphical details if the game play was up-to-scratch, but unfortunately it isn't.

If all you desire is a quick-fix mobile shoot-'em-up, then Break Shock can kill some time, but if you wanted a more fulfilling, entertaining and deeper experience then there are better games available.