Eveningstar Review
PROS
- Polished design.
- New gameplay element.
CONS
- Energy ball frustrating to control.
VERDICT
Eveningstar tries to break apart from the standard shoot em up by providing a physics controlled energy ball, but in the end, this new element is what you may find ultimately frustrating.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Eveningstar is a forward scrolling shoot em up with a slightly different focus on the way you destroy enemies. The goal, as with most shoot em ups, is to fly to the end of the level killing enemies along the way to eventually take down the boss.
The difference that Eveningstar uses to separate it from any other space shoot em ups is that you have an energy ball floating around the ship that acts as your primary weapon. To control the ship, you simply move your finger around the screen where you want it to go, but the key is to use inertia to swing the energy ball around to hit enemies and obstacles. Whilst doing this, you also tap the side of the screen to fire a standard gun. This makes the game feel like trying to rub your stomach and tap your head at the same time which can be quite frustrating, but luckily Auto-fire can be enabled in the settings menu.
Visually, Eveningstar is quite polished although the scale makes the game feel slightly cramped, especially when you're swinging your ship all over the screen just to try and keep inertia going. The sound is well suited and music can be replaced with your iPod if you so desire. There are no online leaderboards, simply a personal scoreboard for you to try to beat.
Whilst the concept of the Eveningstar energy ball is good in theory, you may find that whilst trying to swing it around the screen, you crash into your target more than the ball does causing a great deal of frustration. Whilst being nicely polished, there are only 9 levels and the game lacks the depth to keep you wanting more.
Screenshots
$0.99
