Liberty Wings Review

By , on February 1, 2011


Liberty Wings
  • Publisher: HandyGames
  • Genre: Casual
  • Released: 16 Dec, 2010
  • Size: 57.7 MB
  • Price: FREE!
Download on the AppStore
3 out of 5

PROS

  • Multiple gameplay modes to explore.
  • Initially free; purchase additional content as you require it.

CONS

  • Poor hit detection for bombing targets in the free-roaming top-down mode.
  • Generic gameplay with limited incentives to complete objectives.

VERDICT

Liberty Wings is a game that attempts to feed the insatiable need for more 'value', but in providing a diverse amount of variety it fails to polish any one of them sufficiently.


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In what may be a fairly unpopular sentiment, it has to be said that much of the gaming crowd surrounding the App Store has a relatively skewed sense of 'value' when it comes to the content in games. The perpetuation of this need to provide lots of content for little money is certainly great for the consumer, but it does result in some odd aberrant titles like Liberty Wings by Digital Reality.

In what is ostensibly a fairly classic shoot'em-up (shmup) title, Liberty Wings seeks to appease a broad crowd by mixing multiple sub-genres over three levels for each of the four available zones in the game. A mix of touch and tilt controls are available, though the tilt controls only work in the classic 'vertical' shooter mode. Additional top-down free-exploring and side-scrolling bomber gameplay modes are also available for each area, though despite the variation, none of these modes ever manage to feel more than generic.

Planes zip around the screen in fixed paths, spewing forth a random assortment of tiny bullets that, along with the land-based tanks and cannons, results in a screen full of danger that's hard to avoid. This is to be expected in the vertical shooter mode, but on the objective-based top-down and side-scrolling bomber gameplay modes it's a frustrating mess that makes you dependant on the random 'health' drops to keep you topped up. These levels can be cut short by completing the main objective straight away, but this only cheats you out of the challenge of finishing a level properly.

In seeking to provide gamers with a variety of challenges; a broad selection of gameplay styles; and a range of areas to explore, Liberty Wings comes off as unfocused and scattered. Those who choose to approach each level seriously and with the intent of completing them entirely will get a decent bang for their buck out of Liberty Wings, but with no incentive to do so it's unlikely to remain entertaining for very long.

Screenshots

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