A handful of new names have been added to the list of influenza viruses recently that it’s become stressful just to be with someone who sneezes or has a runny nose. Yeah, viruses suck. Wish we could just shoot ‘em all down. And in the wonderful world of App Store (where else, right?), you can. Introducing, BloodStream Raiders.
The player takes control of a white blood cell and enters different organs of the human body, fighting the influenza virus. And while fighting viruses, the player will also witness cholesterol, red blood cells, platelets, bacteria, stronger mutations of the virus, as well as antivirals. To put it simply, we’re shooting down everything that can be harmful to our body. Educational, yeah?
Before we began the reviewing process, we noticed that the player can change the graphics settings between low and high, to either sweetening your eyes or saving battery. We enjoyed the colorful backgrounds in the high visual mode, but also had no problems whatsoever on lower visual mode. Every level is colorful and vivid.
The controls however are a mixed bag. We all know the controller limitations that any mobile device has, and it’s even more limited with the iPhone and iPod touch. The directional controls and shooting has to be done all on the touch screen, using virtual analog sticks. If you’re a gamer who’s already accustomed to the virtual analog sticks, you’ll have no problems at all. But if you’re a casual gamers who’s not too keen on spending time to master the control, it can turn you off a bit. It’s a shoot’em-up genre, so we expected the challenge, and found no huge problems that discouraged us to play. Well, maybe better background music and a variety of sound effects might help, but this is a shoot’em-up App we’re talking about, and for that it does what it should do.
And for the leaderboard and trophy/achievement freaks, BloodStream Raiders uses the AGON system which has online leaderboards, award system, friends list, Facebook / Twitter integrations and more. A very nice touch for gamers who enjoy multiplayer and online interactivity.
So, will this title kill your time when you have to? Yes, but it’s probably better appreciated by shoot’em-up fans. For $2.99 it’s not a bad investment, but BloodStream Raiders can be just more than a simple ‘meh’ fun that casual gamers are looking for. It’s a shooter that challenges you enough to make you spend a good amount of your iPhone/iPod touch battery power.
