Today’s mobile game review is on a game called “Battle of Britain,” a shoot-em-up, fighter pilot game. I was actually really excited when I picked this game out, because I saw it as a chance to redeem myself. When I was very young, my brother got a really cool PC game for Christmas that involved dog fighting in WWII (the kind with US planes fighting it out with German or Japanese planes over the various theaters of World War Two, not a Michael Vick style RPG). Every time I tried to play the game, my lack of coordination made the plane run off the end of the aircraft carrier. I never even got airborne. This game, I had hoped, was going to let me make up for all of that—at least in my mind.
The upgrades are not that hard to get (at least at first).
The good news for this game is that it is very easy. I fired it up, and after the usual explanatory screen rolled, I saw a simple start screen that showed that all my upgradable options were at the beginner level. I hit the button that was conveniently marked “Take Off” and the battle began.
As soon as the player touches the screen, his aircraft begins firing. No matter where the screen is touched, the plane will fire bullets. Apparently, ammo is unlimited, which surprised me. Touching the plane itself on the screen and moving one’s finger around will control the movement of the plane. The plane only moves up and down, forward and backward. I was disappointed to see that movement was arcade style, even though my tablet lacks a joystick.
The “super power” barometer at the bottom left continues to rise until it is full–then it can be pressed to give the player an extra boost.
Enemy planes enter the screen thick and fast, and have a much wider range of motion. Each plane shot down leaves behind a medal, which is the currency for upgrades. It does seem difficult for the player’s plane to actually be shot down, even if it actually crashes into other planes. This got boring very quickly.
Large, enemy planes occasionally appear and require a little more effort to kill. Once defeated, they offer various bonus packages, such as wingman fighter planes for the player, or repairs to the plane.
This large plane went down and left me with a repair for my plane.
The graphics were very plain, and the color scheme was flat. This was probably intentional to help portray a WWII game, but only further injured a game that had little to recommend it.
Overall, this game was disappointing and pretty boring. There was very little incentive to proceed past the first level. On the plus side, the music for the game was rousing and patriotic; but on the minus side, graphics, style of play, and actual missions were very boring. I would give this game two and a half out of five death stars.
Therefore I Geek 