iCommando

I like sniper games. The first one I recall playing is Silent Scope which had the novelty of having a rifle with a scope that had its own little screen inside so that it simulated a real scope. I actually played the DreamCast version more so than the arcade version, but it was a great port. I also tend to play games like Unreal as a sniper trying to find that elusive hiding place. It turns a button fest into a more strategic game and I'm more into strategy than seeing how quickly I can hit the spacebar. Nonetheless, iCommando had great appeal... the operative word being 'had' as I didn't keep this game.

First, it's not really a sniper game... ok, *I* might be a sniper, but apparently I'm standing in the middle of a big field with my trusty sniper rifle while the countless enemies approach with semi-automatic weapons. It apparently takes a lot of shots to penetrate my armor, but aside from that this is a suicide mission. Where's my hiding place? Where's my brain?

The graphics are good... specifically the scenery (just take a look). The animations aren't so good. When I shoot someone they sometimes just disappear. That's not usually the case... sometimes I'm treated to a frame or two of animation as they drop, but suffice it to say that this animation isn't smooth. The sound of gunfire works fine for the game and the audio is on cue. Likewise the controls work well... click on an area to zoom in, click on the rifle (lower right) to fire, and click on the lower left to zoom back out. Once you've zoomed in you can tilt your phone to move your sight.

This game is one of the more challenging games to review because it's not great and it's not bad... it's right there in the middle as a mediocre title. I'm sure some will enjoy it, but as for me... there are better games out there and I can only hope a better sniper game comes along. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I really like sniper games where it took awhile for the enemy to find me because I'm HIDING and there was pressure to find and pick them off before they noticed me. This game doesn't stress me out at all like it should and becomes somewhat monotonous after killing my 20th enemy (and they just keep a coming). But the ultimate reason it didn't make it for me was the above coupled with its giant 13 meg size... way too much space consumed for way too little fun.