Particle Shooter by Dianox Games

Ever since Geometry Wars single-handedly revived the twin-stick legacy of games like Robotron 2084, there have been many, many imitators. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're a huge fan of the genre like myself. Sometimes even the slightest difference between one game and another can have a significant impact on gameplay. Take Particle Shooter for example.

If you've ever played Robotron, you know that the game is fast.  If you've ever played Geometry Wars, you know it's pretty damn fast too. What happens to the gameplay if you slow down your ship and its ammunition to about half the expected speed? You get this game, and it's kinda weird.

First off, as with most of these types of games, the graphics are exactly what you'd expect, nothing more and nothing less. The screen is filled with neon shapes and glowing trails, and the playfield gently eases around the screen as you move your ship, just like every other twin-stick shooter since Geometry Wars. The sound is rather average as well, and in particular I find the music to be underwhelming and perhaps even out of place (that menu music for example). The same can also be said about the gameplay... in fact, nearly everything about this particular twin-stick shooter is average, though again, to someone who loves the genre that's perfectly fine.


There are three different modes that help bring variety to the gameplay, including your standard mode, a pacifism mode where you can't shoot but instead destroy nearby enemies by passing through a white line, and a challenge mode where the random shapes are replaced with little ships that pose a much better challenge than the shapes moving at random. In Geometry Wars, the enemies seemed to come in groups or waves that were predetermined by the programmer, but this game seems to operate on total chaos theory, but with the slower speed, it's manageable... in fact, almost too manageable, which is why the Challenge mode is particularly welcome as it does provide an honest challenge. The game also features a high score tracker that shows the weekly and overall top ten scores for each mode.

The one thing that I particularly enjoy is that this game has controller support, something that every Android game should implement ASAP. It's surprising how many twin-stick shooters on the Play Store don't support controllers, a genre that is so perfectly suited to the dual-analog controllers of today and conversely can be frustrating to play with touch controls.



Particle Shooter channels the spirit of the great Geometry Wars but with a slower style all its own that makes for a different pace of gameplay. Along with controller support and a couple extra modes that extend the gameplay beyond the standard mode, this twin-stick shooter may be average, but it's average in all the right ways.