Back in January, we brought you a first glimpse of upcoming online arena shooter Protostrike, which looked to make an impact in a somewhat overlooked genre with some intense real-time action on the App Store. With the ability to use numerous weapons and special attacks to eliminate your opponents, as well as the novel use of verticality in being able to jump up on buildings to evade a potential pursuer, Protostrike looked particularly promising when it requested testers for its initial alpha test period earlier this year. After months of balancing mechanics and tweaking the servers, Protostrike is finally ready for an upcoming closed beta test, and the developers are looking for aspiring mercenaries on our forums to dive into the action and give feedback on the game.

In accordance with the upcoming closed beta testing period, developers Level Eight have also released a new trailer that gives a glimpse of gamers playing Protostrike in real-time. Aside from the obligatory trash talking, the new video provides an insight to the chaotic nature of the game’s conflict and parkour elements, as well as demonstrating the HUD and virtual controls on the screen. While I have slight reservations over the size of the action buttons on the right hand side of the iPhone as they look like they may obscure a significant amount of the action, I’m impressed with how smooth and seamless the gameplay in Protostrike is at this relatively early stage, and hopefully this will translate well to the full release in the coming months. If you’re interested in trying the game before the worldwide launch, head down to our forum thread for more details on how to sign up for the Protostrike beta.