Exclusive Video Preview of 'Galactic Gunner'
posted by Eli Hodapp on May 18th, 2009 4:24 PM EDT in $0.99, Action, Exclusives, Games, Shooter, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch gamesA week ago now we got our hands on the first demo build of Ezone.com's new space shooting game, Galactic Gunner. Australian brothers Jamie and Simon Edis have taken an unconventional approach to the genre–Instead of having the player control the flying and shooting like Galaxy On Fire 3D [App Store], Galactic Gunner is a shooter on rails. As the title hints, you play as the gunner and shoot by tapping where you want to fire on screen.
According to Simon, the "secret" to Galactic Gunner is drawing from brother Jamie's film school experience to create "sweeping cinematic paths for your fighter." As the trailer for the game demonstrates, they're not kidding. Your pilot takes you on an exciting flight through asteroid fields, battling the menacing Trepidoids, flying inside of a colossal space station, and other scenes reminiscent of classic science fiction movies.
Along with the stunning visuals, the game has a delightful level of cheesiness to it. The voices of the Trepidoids remind me of the Daleks from Doctor Who, and if that doesn't ring a bell, just imagine the most ridiculously overdone computerized robot voice. On top of that, similar to retro games, none of the characters have names. Your captain is simply the captain, and you're accompanied by both Wingman A and Wingman B.
While the gameplay is simple and the App Store has no shortage of tap to shoot games, radio silence is rare with your squad constantly talking, and your ship is almost always doing various flips and rolls creating a really fun action-packed environment. The build that we've been working with is fairly short with only six levels and one bonus level, but Ezone.com plans on launching the game at 99¢ which makes length hard to complain about when considering the highly refined voice and camera work present in the game.
I've shot a short video of the first two tutorial levels which give a good idea of how the game is controlled, as well as leading in to the first mission as you save the colossal space station from a Trepidoid attack-
While six levels sounds short, Galactic Gunner has a medal system where you can increase your rank based on points scored and shooting accuracy. Also, levels are locked so you must score a minimum number of points before proceeding through the missions. So, the replayability is definitely there if you're looking for a tap shooter, and on top of that, the graphics, animation and Aussie voiceovers are top notch.
oh…a tap things really quickly game.
Will definitely be picking this up.
Any news on a release date?
"Australian brothers Jamie and Simon Edis have taken an unconventional approach to the genre–Instead of having the player control the flying and shooting like Galaxy On Fire 3D [App Store], Galactic Gunner is a shooter on rails."
Yeah, ok, but I'm reminded of a little game called, I dunno, Venger?
Yeah, but in Venger you had control over your ship and you had to line your fire up with the enemies!
This is more like Time Crisis in space.
GG is a Namco's StarBlade clone.
Wow. They must have some kind of cash reserve to license that music for their advertising.
this game is great tho it is a bit short
i feel proud to be testing this
that trailer was hil-arious!
Nice effort from this team but for some reason games where I have to tap on an opponent/object to shoot at him just seems more like a chore and not as fun as having to aim a little…this is not my type of game.
Love the dialogue in the trailer. What's up with the pilot? Seems like he has an accent. LOL! Looks interesting, but I wish the trailer included actual fight scenes with enemy ships, and not just the drones.