For those who can’t even leave the house without taking some hot World War Two shooter action with them, Gameloft has released Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes for the iPhone, and it looks surprisingly good.
The third-person shooter features a two-part control scheme that employ a virtual direction pad on the bottom left of the screen for movement, while the rest of the screen can be swiped anywhere to change view direction. Touch Arcade says the controls take some getting used to and feel somewhat imprecise, but nonetheless “seem to be relatively effective” for moving across the game’s relatively open terrain.
The game features standard weaponry including machine guns, bazookas and sniper rifles, and takes advantage of the iPhone’s tilt feature for grenade throwing and weapon reloading while “pinch gestures” are used for more precise aiming. A gameplay video posted on YouTube shows the game in all its glory; graphically the game looks solid, and the audio effects are even more impressive.
Mobile gaming has never done much for me. Tiny screens, crappy controls and, let’s face it, half-assed games don’t add up to the sort of compelling game experience that’s going to convince me to give up reading magazines on the can. But this looks good; I came away far more impressed than I would have thought possible.
Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes is available via the App Store for $9.99.
