Tunnel Vision Never Looked so Good!
Tunnel Shoot at first glance may seem like a hardcore, dozens of levels 3D tunnel shoot-em-up with big bosses, a large variety of enemies, many levels, powerups, etc., but instead you’ll find a game that strives to be addicting as opposed to hardcore: which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, does Tunnel Shoot have what it takes to have us swarming over high-scores, or does it end up in the banished section of the App Store with terrible Doodle Jump clones and other expendables that tarnish the reputation of our beloved App Store?
Tunnel Shoot opens up with logos of our beloved Backflip Studios and Team Phobic, and is followed up with a fancy menu screen with a fun “Glow” feel. Upon starting the game, you’ll notice a plethora of seizure inducing colors and random crap flying at you. After losing your first three lives in about five seconds with that what the hell just happened? feeling, you may decide to hit the play again button and get a feel for being thrown into the depths of extreme action in a short period of time.
Tunnel Shoot has you controlling a red ship in a brightly colored tunnel on it’s way to getting the highest score possibly imaginable, meanwhile having enemies, obstacles, and green gems thrown at you from all directions. The game is controlled via tilt to move the ship, while tapping allows you to fire blue orbs that are used to destroy incoming enemies. Tapping with two fingers fires off a bomb that wipes out every enemy for some distance away. The controls work exceptionally well, are very responsive, and you even have the option of inverting them. Though I’m not sure why you would invert the controls on a tilting game, unless you’re a sick monster that enjoys tilting left to move right. Navigating the tunnel is very easy, as it automatically adjusts to keep your ship level with the screen.
So after you get used to the bright array of colors and the controls, you strive to get the high score. Three lives are given to you to aid you in your quest, as well as a health bar that gradually recovers. A meter also shows how many bombs you have, and more can be obtained by killing many enemies. So now that you know what you’re supposed to do, how do you get the highest score? Surviving gradually adds points to your counter, killing enemies forms combos, collecting gems that look like green chaos emeralds, multipliers that add to your score, and the bomb item adds a MASSIVE point boost if you use it properly.
Getting points however, isn’t that easy. There are several enemies that hurt your ship, ranging from butterflies to barbed pretzels and floating triangles. Mines are scattered around that deliver severe damage to your ship, as well as instant death obstacles like electric fences and metal poles.
Graphics at first may be a bit overwhelming due to the brightness of the tunnel and the various enemies, but they are rather good after some getting used to. The 3D models all look great, weapon fire is nice, bomb is simply epic, even the point counter rises in a satisfying way. Graphically, the game screams with polish in every aspect. A catchy song is included while playing, but you an turn on your own music and enjoy the experience even more.
However, the game does, unfortunately, like so many other games of this nature, feel repetitive at times. Enemy variation is good, but you feel as if there could be a bit more enemies included, as well as obstacles. After maybe three or so plays you’d have seen every enemy and obstacle the game has to offer. Fortunately, the game has awesome Plus+ interactivity. This adds leaderboards as well as various achievements for you to get, extending the play time even further.
iFanzine Verdict: An addictive space shooter with a lot of polish and fun gameplay to boot, however, it could strongly use an update adding more content into a somewhat small variety of obstacles.
[xrr rating= 3.5/5]
Enjoy the review? Get the game on iTunes.