Circuit Strike One Review

Hype is a hard thing. Look at how many games come to the App Store with a truckload of hype only to be a disappointment. While at the same time there are games that aren’t as good as those “hyped” games but because we didn’t know anything about them we think they’re better.

Hype is a double-edged sword and many games have been cut down by that blade.

One of the latest games to come through the App Store Hype Machine is “circuit_strike.one”. And I’ll tell you right now, this is a game that would have been better served coming out without all the pre-hype. It is an amazing game (and only a buck?!) and should be on any space gamers device. But it’s no where near worth the hype.

In “cs.one” you are a pilot taking on hordes of bad guys while trying to take out a Data Core. To do this you’ll have to knock out the Shield Generators and keep away the other ships. One of the fun parts of the game is that once you take out the shields the core goes into “self destruct” mode and you’ve only got a few seconds to blow up the core.

When you destroy the enemy ships you collect “ghost data” and you can use that to start up bullet time, which slows down everything around you. I found this most useful after the shields went down so I had more time shoot at the core.

The look of the game is great. It’s fun to look at the game while playing and you can see that a lot of time went into everything. But I have to say that the “2.5 D” graphics are a little tough. Everything is fine when you’re shooting ships and shield generators, but it all changes when you go after the core and the perspective is a little different. It’s not that it’s impossible, it’s just that it’s a little different than the rest of the game and I wasn’t expecting that the first game.

The sound in the game is perhaps the best in any game in the store – even those that are costing a lot more. Playing the game with headphones on is a real treat. This is a very high level of polish and I wish most games had at least half of this. But… I do find it odd that levels start with the sound of a dial up modem. It freaked me out the first time I heard it. I thought I’d never have to hear that screeching sound again. Though I will say that it’s a high quality annoying sound.

The controls are the one area where I wasn’t completely thrilled with the game. The game plays a lot more like Asteroids than some of the other space shooters that have come out recently and that takes a little getting used to. You’ve got a control pad in the lower left corner and it seems like it should be working like a 360 control stick, but it’s more like a four point pad. You can get past this, but if you play some other game right before starting his up you’ll have trouble.

The fire button is a very small button in the bottom right corner and there are times when you’ll miss it – which is easy to do because you can’t really see where it is. That’s bad because you’ll suddenly thrust, usually right into an enemy. You see, touching anywhere on the right side of the screen other than the fire button is how you thrust. The game could really use an actual button for firing.

Oh, I forgot about another place where the game falls… oh though this time it really falls. The font chosen for the menu of the game is horrible… worse then horrible. They wanted it to look futuristic, but apparently in the future people can’t read so it doesn’t matter what they put on the screen. Please fix this… I’d love to know what you were trying to tell me.

In the end you’ve got a great game. It’s not the “definitive iPhone shooter” like it says in its very own description, and it comes up a little short on the rest of the hype. I would have loved to have seen this game just sort of come out and catch everyone be surprise and it would have been a huge, huge hit.

As it stands, cs.one, is easily one of the top five $1 games you’ll find on the App Store (at least for now, it might go up in price). The look of the game is great, and the sound is nothing short of amazing. There is plenty of game play to be found here, including a big variety of things to unlock. If space shooters are your thing… this is one game not to miss.

The Good

Phenomenal Sound (Other Than That Dial Up Thing)
Wonderful Graphical look
Cool Achievements To Unlock
Bullet Time

The Bad

Can’t Read Anything – Worst Font On Any App
Needs Full 360 Control

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Tags: Chillingo Review, Circuit Strike, CS One Review, CS1, CSONE

Category: Games