Super Ox Wars review (iOS / Universal)

♫ “I’m coming on, like a Mega Force…”

10 word description: Classic vertical scrolling shooter; ten levels; power-ups; oxen; Game Center.

10 word review: Amazonian tribal folklore meets retro shooter – what’s not to like?

You will like this if you enjoy: Star Force, or Mega Force, depending on where you lived at the time. Updated classic retro shooters. Other Llamasoft iOS games.

The good news: Classic retro styling with loads of smooth and pretty stuff going on at all times. Spot-on controls and gameplay. User friendly level select based on your previous best performance.

The bad news: The sounds, while quite good, don’t really match the quality of the rest of the game, or other Llamasoft titles. No real problem, just something I noticed.

Arcadelife verdict: Mega Force / Star Force (same game) was one of my favourite 80s shooters, so I spotted the main inspiration for Super Ox Wars immediately, before popping over to the Llamasoft Blog to read the full story behind the game’s design and development. It’s hard to fault this game as it takes an acclaimed original as its source and adds just enough tweaks and Llamasoft originality to make it an essential iOS arcade game.

For me, Gridrunner still manages to hold onto its crown as the best Llamasoft iOS shooter so far but it’s all down to personal preference; having a favourite Llamasoft game is in no way criticising any of the others. Personally, I’d love to see Jeff develop an updated Gauntlet style maze-shooter; there’s plenty of scope for Minotaurs and screens full of neon particle craziness there.

Arcadelife rating

Visuals – 9/10
Audio – 7/10
Controls – 10/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 88/100

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0

Llamasoft / Super Ox Wars website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 5.1.1)
iPad (iOS 5.1.1)