The Story

Shadowgun is an immensely good looking space shooter for Android which moulds together a non-descript storyline and a lot of ammunition into something that’s as frivolous as it is fun. It’s basically Gears Of War ripped off for a Google smartphone but we don’t really care.

The Experience

Before we mention anything about Shadowgun’s gameplay, hats off to its script writers for creating one of the most half-arsed shoot em’ up stories we have ever experienced. We won’t detail the whole sordid affair but needless to say, you play a space age bounty hunter who has tracked down an evil doctor to his hidden mountain fortress and must destroy a mutant army in order to capture him. In a word: amazing!

While little time and energy was expended on Shadowgun’s plot, that’s not the case for its graphical gloss which is stunning by smartphone standards. The despotic world you’re set in is incredibly well realised with each murky corridor or neon computer panel illustrated according to a console quality finesse.

When you’ve stopped gawping at Shadowgun’s graphics, you’ll quickly get round to realising its controls aren’t bad either. Any standard smartphone targeting difficulties are eased with a red trigger hair indicating when you’ve got your enemy in sight. The standard virtual control stick and action buttons aren’t bad either with the control stick set to roam according to where your thumb is on the screen, a nifty trick.

Shadowgun isn’t a perfect shooter. Other than a few password hacking challenges, there’s little to break the cycle of entering a room, finding cover and blowing up some mutants. Also, mutants tend to perish after a seemingly random number bullets have riddled their bodies. For some, one headshot will do. For others, you’ll need to unleash a full magazine of bullets.

Nevertheless for a wholly reasonable asking price of £3.49, including no silly in-app purchasing options, we’re happy to endorse Shadowgun as a masterful Android action app. As the first instalment in a proposed franchise, we’re sure there’s better to come from this intergalatic series and we look forward to getting our hands on it.

The Bottom Line

A solid Android shooter with some sumptuous 3D graphics.

Additional Info

Version reviewed 1.0.4
Requires Android 2.2 or higher

Download Shadowgun from Android Market

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