There’s just something about dogfighting in space that lends itself to video games. From the earliest days, piloting a space ship and blasting down aliens, or asteroids, or other enemy ships has been a common theme for video games, and the genre really reached a new level when 3D gaming started to take hold. Imagine a first-person perspective right from the cockpit of your very own cool spaceship as you fly through space battling against all manor of cool enemies. These dreams were realized with games like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter which put you right in the cockpit of iconic ships from the Star Wars universe. That game also served as inspiration for a new space fighting game called Interloper ($1.99) from Anchorite Games, which arrived in the App Store this week.
Sweet cockpit view in a bad ass spaceship? Check. Tons of cool weaponry to blast bad guys with? Check. Huge space stations? Massive explosions and particle effects galore? Check to all that. Interloper delivers an action-packed space shooting experience that’s incredibly easy on the eyes and filled with jaw-dropping moments, and it does all this in a package that has been expertly crafted for mobile. The game can be played in portrait or landscape orientations, switching on the fly, and you can easily play one-handed with just your thumb. It’s a perfect candidate for when you feel like pulling out your iPhone and killing just a few minutes of free time.
The structure of Interloper is also geared towards mobile play. It’s a roguelike game, so levels and enemies are randomly generated each time you play and it’s set up with wave-based progression. You can continue going through waves as long as you’re able to survive, earning better and better rewards the further you get, but also risking losing it all should you perish before making it back to your base. You can equip your ship with a ton of different weapons and special items, and Interloper has the addicting quality of looting games like Diablo or Borderlands. You want to constantly unlock new stuff, mess with your ship’s loadout, and then head out to do it all over again. And again, and again.
There’s just something so satisfying about playing Interloper. The action is so intense it’s constantly bringing a smile to my face, and the controls that were built with the touchscreen in mind make it a joy to play. I also love the roguelike structure of the game, which reminds me of some of my favorite non-3D roguelike shooters like Sterdenn or Black Paradox. The sole developer Matt Purchase of Anchorite Games is also extremely active in our forums and has been quick to respond to bug reports and feedback, and I can see Interloper only getting better going forward. The final cherry on top is that this is a fully premium game priced at just $5.99 with no ads, IAP, or other BS to get in the way. So if you enjoy space shooters and appreciate impressive graphics and a good challenge, be sure to give Interloper a shot.
