Helion, could easily be considered a throwback to the simplistic side scrolling shooters from the past where you pilot a star shaped ship while attempting to destroy everything in your path.
Helion consists of 18 stages packed into 6 visually vibrant levels. 20 different enemy types, 7 different power-ups, and 9 original music tracks. There is no online portion of the game.
When you start the game, you are presented with an informative tutorial that guides you through how to pilot your ship, shoot, pick up objects and other important game mechanics. You begin the game with five lives and you better take care because when there gone the game is over, and even on easy the game can become quite a challenge!
The controls, are simple yet effective. Using the multi-touch capabilities of the iPhone, you touch and drag your ship to move it around the screen while using a second finger to touch the location you want to fire at.
This in my view one of the negative points of the game. Using two fingers to move and fire at objects tends to block your view of the screen and cause some un-necessary deaths.
To complete each level, you must pass through different stages on each level, each stage has it’s own beautiful 3D background, the ships vary and come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they come alone and are very powerful, others they are weak but in numbers. You must fight them all of to succeed!
The game features a local only high scores. Although the hi-scores do have some ranks pre-set in, God Thumb, Space Ace, Elite, Predator, Dog fighter, Pilot , Rookie and so on.
The Graphics and audio really are the thing that makes this game stand out. While your ship design isn’t that spectacular the graphics of the other 20 different enemy ships really are. The games has a 3D moving background which really adds to the feel. The audio is handled well with good sound effects and 9 soundtracks that match the levels nicely.
I give this game a high recommendation to anyone who is a fan of of side scrolling shooters, even if your not a huge fan there is plenty of fun to be had with Helion and if the price fits your budget you should definitely give the game a look.
Positives: Impressive graphics, Wide range of enemy types, good amount of content
Negatives: Almost no replay-ability, Controls could be better
Yes the graphics are the main thing for this game, but the re playability isn’t there.
The enemy’s don’t spawn randomly, they come in patterns every level so you would always know what to expect.
The graphics look really nice, though to me that’s certainly not what makes a truly great game. A similar game that is free, Jimney Chimney, has very retro line drawings but it has a unique gameplay mechanic (being able to shoot in four directions at once) that provided quite a challenge and fun.
welll the graphics look sweet
i can see how it would lack replayability. But the graphics are very enticing. The controls look to function well from the video like you said but i understand the lack of visibility issue. Looks like a decent game.
Yeah the graphics look very nice but the gameplay looks a bit odd to me. hmmm…..
While the graphics do really look nice, the fact there is no replayability and questionable controls sure makes me question if this is something that I’d be interested in….too bad because it does really look nice, graphic wise….