Last week, I received an email from our friends at Backflip Studios.  These are the wizards behind some of my favorite iOS games, such as: Ragdoll Blaster, Paper Toss, Harbor Havoc, and plenty of others.  They have long been among my favorite game developers, so I was pretty excited to see what their latest offering, Tunnel Shoot, had to offer.  The folks at Backflip were kind enough to send a copy of the game for review, and I immediately downloaded it from the iTunes App Store.

The premise of this one, as with so many other games, sounds simple.  Just pilot your ship down the tunnel, and try not to get killed.  Like I said, that sounds pretty easy.  But watch out because there are plenty of obstacles in your path, including barriers, pipes, and plenty of enemies.

The gameplay in this one started out extremely fast paced and moved on from there.  You will soon find yourself screaming through the tunnel, and using all sides of the tube to avoid the obstacles (not to mention your laser which can be used to destroy the enemies).  The controls are also easy and intuitive.  Just tilt your device to steer (tap the screen to fire).  As you might expect, the further you go, the more difficult the game will become, with the number of enemies on the screen multiplying significantly. 

That being said, the increase in the number of enemies is really the only change in the difficulty of the game.  It would be nice if there was some kind of checkpoint, were you could purchase power ups, or even levels which would add a break in the game play and change in scenery.  These are all ideas which would significantly improve the game, and which I hope we will see in future versions.  Their absence, however, really did not detract from the basic game.

You will, however, have two upgrades, which are earned by piloting your craft without taking any hits.  First is the score multiplier, which is pretty self explanatory.  Second are bombs.  As you move through the game, you can earn bombs.  when you get into a tight jam, just drop a bomb.  It will bounce its way down the tube ahead of you, vaporizing everything in its path.

One other thing I noticed.  I have played these kinds of tunnel games before, and one of the drawbacks I have found is the ease with which you can become disoriented.  Spinning around all side of the tunnel can make it extremely easy to lose track of where you are and where you need to be.  Tunnel Shoot does a fantastic job of combating this problem by color coding different sections of the tunnel.  This small detail significantly improved my ability to stay oriented in the game.

The other really nice thing that Backflip has done with this one is making it a universal app.  This is the first of their games which is available across the entire spectrum of iOS devices for a single low price (it has even been optimized for iOS4).  This is a great option, which means you can play it on all of your iOS devices after purchasing the app only once.  Hopefully, Backflip will continue to upgrade their games in order to make more of them universal (hint, hint, I am dying to play Ragdoll Blaster 2 and Harbor Havoc on the iPad).

The game gives you two incentives to keep coming back for more.  First, you can try to beat your own high scores.  If you really impress yourself, you can even post your scores on Twitter or Facebook.  You can even check out the online Leaderboard in the Plus+ network, and compare your scores with players from around the world. 

Additionally, the game is chock full of awards, which can be earned by performing a variety of in-game feats of strength.

This was a fantastic game, which I really thought lived up the Backflip Studios name.  It is fast paced, and extremely addictive.  I did think upgrades and a change in scenery with different tunnels or levels would be nice; but they were not necessary in order to really enjoy the basic gameplay. 

Tunnel Shoot is available from Backflip Studios (along with Team Phobic) for only $0.99.  But don’t wait, because that low introductory price will not last forever.

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