Asteroids Gunner

Asteroids Gunner by Atari - Free in the App Store

Asteroids Gunner is the latest game in the venerable, long-lived Asteroids franchise. This dual stick shooter doesn't veer too far from classic arcade play - merely adding a dual stick element and blocking everything even remotely cool behind in-app purchases.

Graphics - 6/10

Nothing truly spectacular. It is a good looking game, despite the sometimes grainy backgrounds. Although the store interface and menu screens look great, the user experience of navigating them is mediocre at best.

Sound - 4/10

Just about the most generic sound effects one could possibly imagine. The "pew pew" of your laser gets really old, really quickly.

Music - 3/10

Think of the most bland, cliche sci-fi themed, new age music you can. Loop it ad nauseam and there you go.

Controls - 7/10

Pretty good for the most part as far as dual stick shooters go, although I do feel that the accuracy of the weapon joystick was less than adequate. No huge complaints, though. It feels pretty solid.

Replayability - 6/10

There are a ton of levels to drudge through, but the game feels exactly like that - drudgery. Even after minimum time with it, you get pretty bored. Especially since the upgrades are expensive using the in-game currency and everything cool is locked up behind in-app purchases. I doubt many will find themselves returning to this one after the initial play through.

Originality - 3/10

While I love the Asteroids-type of arcade games, how long can you live off of a franchise this one-dimensional? Especially when there are absolutely killer alternatives out there. Geometry Wars, anyone?

Value - 5/10

It is free...in theory. Although you can download and play the game for free, as well as collect currency for upgrades, it quickly becomes apparent that Atari has locked anything of value behind absurd upgrade rules and in-app purchases. Not cool.

Fun Factor - 4/10

It's a good feeling game and looks decent enough, but the lack of any real variety between levels and expensive upgrades ultimately hinder this one from being a truly fun game.

Story - 0/10

What story?

Multiplayer - n/a

Conclusion - 38%

I wanted to like this one since Asteroids is such a legendary franchise, but Atari really screwed the pooch here. Excessive blocking of content via IAP, misleading upgrade paths, and no real variety of game play makes this one a pretty big bomb. Do yourself a favor and save the 61.1 MB of space on your device for something better.