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‘Last Cannon’: A Refreshingly Original iPhone Puzzle Shooter

last_cannon screenShadiradio has just released what’s probably the most compelling take on Missile Command in the App Store, Last Cannon [link].

This is the end.

What was once paradise is now waste and rotting meat. I am surrounded by the decaying corpses of these disgusting invaders. The stink of them fills my thoughts. And I’m so hungry. Before my mind consumes itself in despair, I have to write our story. My name is Jhava, and as far as I know, I’m all that’s left.

Heavy stuff…  Such begins Last Cannon, a game in which you control a cannon at the bottom of the screen with the mission of destroying an onslaught of alien invaders bent on wiping out your installation.  It sounds like a pretty well known formula, but Last Cannon packs some twists.

Your cannon has several ways of dealing with the advancing Knurlings (the aliens in question).  Hitting a Knurling with a rocket will destroy it and others of like color in its vicinity.  You can change the color of a Knurling with your beam, allowing you to setup chains of rocket destructions by creating clusters of like-colored enemies.  Finally, Super Bombs destroy all enemies onscreen, and new bombs are awarded for destroying a certain amount of Knurlings.

The game utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer for aiming the cannon and tap controls to fire weapons.  The graphics are rather simple, but clean, and the game’s stylized, minimal night-sky aesthetic is pleasantly different.

See the developer’s gameplay video for a closer look.

Last Cannon is a simple game with a single survival / highscore mode, but the color matching / elimination element takes it beyond just another simple shooter into the realm of a puzzle game that’s genuinely refreshing to play. At only $0.99, it’s a solid App Store value that we recommend. Be warned that the difficulty does ramp pretty quickly. The next version update is said to include a global high score list.

App Store Link: Last Cannon, $0.99

[ Thanks Pante ]