Alien Outpost is a new defense game from NewIsland Interactive and their first app for the iphone. They've certainly chosen a hard genre to break in to and the only thing that really separates it from the pack is the method of dispatching enemies, but despite this it still remains a fun game to pick up and blast through.

Now that defense games have really started to branch out, it's hard to define Alien Outpost as being generic, but the controls are fairly standard to those familiar to the genre. Enemies slowly crawl their way from the left towards your fortified base on the right. You can use a tap-select menu to scroll through available weaponry, which is then fired by holding the fire button and aiming using a sliding bar on the far right of the screen. The interface is responsive enough, though the scroll bar becomes too sensitive in the middle area making shots hard to aim in this important zone.

Enemies are rendered in a self proclaimed "whacky and creative" way and are fairly cartoonish, using only 7 enemy types and color palette swaps to indicate harder enemies. The effects are otherwise pretty simple, but stylishly rendered. iTunes is also supported for those looking to slaughter enemies en-mass with your own music blazing.

Alien Outpost isn't a standout amongst the crowd, but it is great as an entry to the genre - though anyone who has mastered more complicated games might not find a lot to enjoy.