Ethan Nicholas grabbed headlines when his Scorched Earth-alike, iShoot [App Store] shot up the charts to grab the #1 spot in the top 100 paid apps category, dethroning the mighty iFart Mobile. What’s particularly interesting about his success is that the game had been languishing in the App Store for several months until he released the free iShoot Lite [App Store], which instantly started to climb the charts, bringing the paid app with it and thereby defining a strategy that many would follow with varied success. For Nicholas, his success with iShoot was such that he was able to leave the day job behind and focus entirely on iPhone development.
In January, after his follow-up title Kim Rhodes’ Outdoor Shooting [App Store] was out the door, Nichols began work on iShoot 2, sharing details of the development process in a few developer blog posts. And, after eight months’ work, the game has just gone live in the App Store [link].
iShoot 2 is basically a reworked take on the Scorched Earth formula, but with some nice enhancements over the original iShoot. First of all, iShoot 2 is a universal application that takes full advantage of the screen resolution of the iPhone 4 and iPad. But, aside from the benefit gained by the physically higher resolution screens of Apple’s latest devices, the graphical detail of the game itself is notably enhanced as compared to the original, lending a more polished feel to the game.
Like iShoot before it, iShoot 2 is a turn-based artillery game that delivers a kill-or-be-killed battlefield scenario to the player. You control a tank set on a hilly / craggy landscape, flanked by one or more enemy tanks. Your goal is to calculate the proper angle and velocity to deliver your projectile(s) to your enemy in as few attempts as possible. And then pound him until dead. In this go-round, you have more intricate control of your weapons, as the velocity setting is handled via on-screen slider, as opposed to the length of time the fire button is held down, as handled in the original.
The game offers both Skirmish and Campaign single-player modes, as well as local Bluetooth multiplayer, with four players total in each mode. An entirely new weapons system has been put in place, with not only single-projectile weapons, but particle-based weapons, flame weapons, and the like. Tanks can be upgraded to use more advanced ordnance as the game progresses. The battlefields of iShoot 2 are larger than those of the original, with scrolling and pinch / spread zooming used to keep enemies in view. A dramatic, original soundtrack backdrops the action. Basically, every area of the game has been in some way improved over the original.
I’ve personally long been a fan of these sorts of games, there being a sort of fulfillment gained from calculating a trajectory and watching your volley of fiery death rain down upon your enemy. If you can identify with that emotion, or simply enjoyed Scorched Earth and its ilk, you’ll likely find iShoot 2 rather to your liking.
