iPhone review: iBomber

Price: free (on 1.2.2010), lite version available
Publisher: Cobra Mobile
Release date: 18.7.2009

iBomber is a top-down bombing game where you never actually see your own plane, but rather view the action from the bombing scopes.

The era is WW2 and you're bombing Japanese targets in 14 missions that range from target bombing to escorting a fleet of ships through an archipelago.

Along with your basic, unlimited bombs, you can collect limited power-ups that include "triple bombs" called Blockbusters, black bombs that are more powerful that basic ones and the Grand Slam, or "The Nuke" as I like to call it; a single powerful, but slow moving bomb.

The other power-up is the health booster that will heal you for a small amount (pictured left).

You collect the power-ups by touching them on the screen (luckily you don't have to hit them with bombs, as they stay on the screen only for a short while).

Controls are fairly easy; you turn and control your speed by tilting the device and hit the only button available to drop your bombs (creatively labeled "BOMBS AWAY"). The forward / backward tilt is calibrated in the menu, so you can play at an angle that feels natural to you.

Speed of course affects how far your bombs will land from the initial dropping location, but unlike real bombers, yours will nearly turn "on a dime". All it's really missing is reverse.

Different enemies of course take different amounts of bombs to destroy, from the small mg-placements that only take one bomb to the battleships and carriers that take several (or a well placed "nuke", which is the slowest moving bomb in the game, and which "duds" if you hit the water with it).

You can also hit airplanes with your bombs, of which there are several kinds; small escorts that circle around islands or carriers, bigger bomber types and some US fighters.

Everything on the map is of course committed to killing you (with the exception of command huts, fuel depos, etc stationary targets), so those health power-ups not only come in handy; they are mandatory to your survival.

Your health is shown on the left, right next to your radar that will show enemies as red blimps, allies as green and mission targets as yellow triangles. The radar acts like the real counterpart, only showing the location and heading of the targets for a time after a radar sweep.

Gameplay is mostly fun, and why not; dropping bombs and seeing things explode is a great way to pass the time. Some missions feel a bit long though, and especially the escorting missions tend to take some of the fun away while you're juggling between the protection detail and gathering health-ups to keep yourself alive. In the latter missions, the flaming death spin that drops you from the skies becomes a somewhat a familiar sight.

Graphics are good - you have little trouble distinguishing what is what, and even in this small scale you can tell a destroyer from a battleship, etc.

Sound is mostly nothing to write home about. Its your standard fare of explosions, splashes and flak.

It's free (in early February, at least), so you can't really complain.

Score: 8/10