Darkside™ Review

First and foremost when discussing Darkside by Clockwork Pixels, one has to commend the game for being a free title that's more akin to a demo than an opportunity to nickel and dime its players through in-app purchases. Downloading this twin-stick shooter will give you the arcade mode with limitless play, and for the price of ninety nine cents, you unlock the full game which includes two additional modes, and the use of screen clearing smart bombs. Whether you wish to spend the money or not, you still get a fun, intense twin-stick shooter experience.

Darkside plays a little like Super Stardust HD. Each level has you clearing up asteroids while your movement is confined to the spherical orbit of a planetoid. Shooting an asteroid will break it into smaller and smaller pieces, often littering the screen with score and weapon upgrades. Enemies will also try to take you down, and can be avoided and decimated with the move and shoot tandem controls of your twin joysticks. These sticks give you solid control over your actions but we have felt better fluidity and response in other games of this genre.

The first thing players will notice are the visuals upon loading the game. With the use of lighting and particle effects, this is a feast for the eyes, and that continues level after level of play. The only issue is that on the iPhone, the small screen can have you unwittingly crashing into asteroid debris, and it can cause you to pinball around, lowering your shields before you can gain control and clear a path once more. On the larger iPad screen, this might not be an problem however.

With no barrier to entry, and no in-app purchase design model, it's easy to recommend Darkside to all fans of arcade games and twin-stick shooters. It's not the best game in the genre but it will definitely entertain as you give those meddlesome asteroids what-for!

Description

Awarded 90% on Touch Arcade and 148 Apps! Battle your way around 100's of massive 3D asteroids, fighting hostile aliens and protecting remote mining colonies.

Watch out for orbiting chunks of rock, blast them into oblivion before they destroy the mining colonies. Try to stay on the sunlit side as much as possible, the dark side of these asteroids can be pitch black and full of danger. Luckily your ship is equipped with headlights!

Darkside Features:
- 100's of fast paced levels packed with aliens.
- Fly around massive asteroids in glorious 3D.
- Ten awesome power ups of mass destruction.
- Full Retina support, including 4-inch displays.
- Game Center support & achievements.
- Configurable dual stick controls.
- Share your progress across devices via iCloud.

A single In-App Purchase is available to unlock an additional two game modes (Missions & Survival). This also equips your ship with smart bombs, ideal for when things get a bit scary!

Darkside is Retina display ready, on both the iPad & iPhone/iPod Touch and features configurable dual stick controls and Game Center support for scores and achievements!

iPad players can use the 'Joypad Game Controller' app to play Darkside using an iPod Touch or iPhone!

For news of our future iPhone and iPad games please visit:
www.ClockworkPixels.com
Twitter: @ClockworkPixels

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Press Reviews:

"The game’s visuals are, quite simply, awesome. Each planet is highly detailed and every weapon and explosion is a dazzling treat of lighting and particle effects. I would have unequivocally recommended Darkside if it cost any reasonable amount. However, considering you can download it for free, you have no excuse not to check out this most excellent arcade shooter." : Touch Arcade : 90%

"This is a fantastic twin-stick shooter, both in its free and paid versions, and if you have any kind of love for the genre then it cannot be resisted. With 100 missions to play through, and indeed missions which are challenging right from the off, Darkside is absolutely ravenous for attention." : 148 Apps : 90%

"With the use of lighting and particle effects, this is a feast for the eyes. With no barrier to entry, and no in-app purchase design model, it's easy to recommend Darkside to all fans of arcade games and twin-stick shooters." : AppSpy : 80%

"Darkside is a great-looking game, the glittering light show of explosions and weapons fire is a sight to behold." : Pocket Gamer : 80%

"Darkside is a wonderfully smooth game, with some breath-taking nebula backdrops and barely a drop in the frame-rate, even when the action is at its most frantic. There's an awful lot to love about Darkside!" : Modojo : 90%

"Get the free arcade mode. Play it for a few minutes. Shove your eyes back into your head. Buy the full game." : Arcade Life : 95%

"It's great for a quick dose of asteroid blasting and the mission mode provides a good balance to the game which should keep you coming back for more." : AppGamer : 80%

"The graphics are amazingly detailed. My thumbs are still hurting from all the dual-stick gaming I played! This game is fantastic." : App Advice : 100%

"A brilliant shoot em up that is surprisingly tactical and full of depth." : The Smart Phone App Review : 91%

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Customer Feedback:

"The graphics are beautiful, and the lighting fantastic, on the new iPad this is a gem."

"All in all the game is a little diamond and for sure, great eye candy! The unlock price makes this game a steal."

"The gameplay is like things you've played, and yet not really like anything you've played. It's hard to explain, which is frankly a very good thing!"

"The arcade mode is one of the nicest shoot'em'up style games I've played in a while."

"This game offers a true and very enjoyable arcade experience with drop dead eye popping graphics that you'll drool over. Awesome fun!"