The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.
These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
Time Recoil
From their 2003 PC hit Crimsonland (Free) which made its way to mobile a few years back, to last year’s more contemporary and stylish Neon Chrome ($6.99), it’s pretty clear 10tons knows how to make a fun top-down shooter. In fact, their latest game Jydge, a spinoff of Neon Chrome, is currently getting rave reviews on PC and consoles (and I’m guessing we’ll see that one on mobile at some point too). However, their latest mobile release is called Time Recoil ($5.99), which was also a hit on desktop and consoles. On those platforms (and when using an MFi controller on iOS) Time Recoil is a traditional dual-stick shooter. However, to help the game work on touchscreen with virtual controls, 10tons revamped the game into a single-stick affair using auto-aim. Now, that might sound like a downgrade to some, but it actually puts the focus on the main hook in Time Recoil which is its awesome time-slowing kill-combo feature.
When you kill an enemy in Time Recoil, time will temporarily slow down. A tiny meter begins ticking down and if you score another kill before it’s up you’ll extend the slow-mo time. As you progress in the game you’ll also gain special abilities that are enabled based on how many kills you can string together during a slow-mo combo. For example, two in a row will give you a powerful dash attack that lets you blast through certain walls and even straight through enemies, thus continuing your combo. This is really the crux of Time Recoil as you string together combos and choose how and when to unleash your special moves, eventually becoming a graceful whirlwind of destruction. It’s incredibly satisfying.
However, if you come into Time Recoil expecting it to play like a typical dual-stick shooter you’ll likely become frustrated before the brilliance of the game shines through. Come into it with the right expectations–that this is a streamlined single-stick shooter with heavy assistance–and I think you’ll enjoy the heck out of it, much like I am. 10tons said they made the change to single-stick since touchscreens lack a third input (like a trigger on a controller) so you’d have to take your thumb off the right stick in order to fire, which would cause the whole thing to break down. Having an auto-firing right stick isn’t an option either as using the limited supply of ammo in the game is a big part of the game’s strategy and challenge.
I think adding in a true dual-stick option for those who want it would be fine, and even better would be a true dual-stick option with 3D Touch support. However, I think 10tons was right in making Time Recoil on iOS a single-stick game by default, as I think it’s the easiest way for most people to play the game and appreciate its finer points. There are plenty of great traditional dual-stick shooters on mobile for those who want that, even 10tons’ own Neon Chrome, but Time Recoil offers something quite different and it would be a shame to see that getting lost in the complexity of a virtual control scheme. If you’ve tried out Time Recoil and it just felt “wrong" I’d implore you to go back and give it a fair shake, as once things click it’s an incredibly fun game and another great addition to the top-down shooter genre on mobile.
