Scrolling Shooter 'Abigale' Well Suited for iPhone
posted by Blake Patterson on April 8th, 2009 2:34 AM EDT in $0.99, News, Reviews, Shooter, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Cega there was a princess called Abigale. Not only did she possess a beautiful appearance, she also had the kindest heart. As heiress to the King, at age 19 she was sent to a far-away island preparatory school and during her absence the evil Pope of Cega brought siege and overtook the kingdom. Abigale was sent to the Dark Forest for her protection from the Pope, who sought to destroy her. Wanting to avenge her people, Abigale made a pact with the Dark God and traded all her "love" for the holy weapon Mosa which absorbs enemy fire.
Such is the backstory of Japanese mobile developer Meridian's Abigale [App Store], a 2D side-scrolling shooter for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Abigale features attractive, parallax scrolling forest backdrops and very smooth onscreen animation across 15 levels. It's an accelerometer-based game (lacking a calibration feature, unfortunately) with tight controls that delivers a challenging shooter experience. Abigale is reminsicent of a number of Japanese shooters where dodging (and in this case, also absorbing) enemy fire is the main task at hand.
Abigale's enchanted Mosa is connected to her craft by a spring and spins freely, driven by the tilt motion of the iPhone. When the Mosa contacts enemy fire, it absorbs it, becomes empowered and, with a tap to the screen, begins spinning violently. A second tap sends the Mosa flying to the tap location, inflicting far more damage to enemies than does Abigale's craft's auto-fire, often destroying the enemy in one strike and releasing the precious crystal shards that Abigale so desperately seeks.
In my limited time with the game, I found the early levels somewhat repetitive, but the presentation and overall game performance are impressive. It's worth noting that the game seems particularly well suited to the iPhone's control system, which can be rare in shooters. At its $0.99 introductory price (it will increase to $2.99 shortly), Abigale is really a no-brainer for the scrolling shooter fan.
See our gameplay video for a better idea of what Abigale is all about.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Link: Abigale, $0.99 (introductory price)
No music?
The game lacks music, but has audio effects for on-screen events, but there's no firing sound for Abigale's auto-fire lasers.
i was just about to comment dis game actually looks cool. But, no music and sound effects? What? Is dis a beta version?
The game has rather full sound effects, just not for the continuous auto-fire lasers that Abigale is laying down. (And no music.)
Yeah, I hope those sound bits and music are added later on. It really sets the mood. Besides from that, the game is pretty fun.
The game is pretty good and while there is no music right now, the gameplay is intuitive. The fact that Abigale has a storyline actually makes it that much better.
Can you play your own music and have the sfx at the same time?
Gets repetitive and boring very quickly.
But a big plus for the unique concept and the beautiful style!
But in the middle of world 2 I lost interest and shut the game down.
Id say you can throw your own tunes on, which really is a much better option imo.
the more I play it, the more I think this is a brilliant iPhone game. Yes, the gameplay is somewhat repetitive, but the use of the ball/chain accelerometer control and the scrolling play area really make it a great iPhone side-scrolling shooter.
Really unique gameplay mechanic with a lot of room to improve your skill
arn
I tend to agree. The Mose and the mechanics behind it is unusual and nicely done.
I'm really disappointed with this game; I got bored pretty quickly with it.
I only bought it as a filler, while waiting for Space Tripper to come out; I prey that Space Tripper is better than this because there is no good shooter on the iphone yet.
Right now, this games has music and sound effects and this one… oh my goodness, is the best arcade game I have ever played in 5 years. I have played iFighter(good game but too slugish since they added music), SkyForce Reloaded (Very good game also, but lacks motion control), etc
I suggest you to get it right now while it is still $.99. I don't think it will be at that price point for long.