Ballistic SE Review

Ballistic SE is a twin-stick shooter with eye-popping visuals and a thumping soundtrack. Fans of the genre will find lots to like here, and the only real issue is an occasional dip in framerate.

Ballistic SE is delightfully simple to control. On the left side of the screen is a virtual thumb-stick that controls movement, and on the right is a thumb-stick that controls the direction of ship fire.

The ship also fires automatically if the player prefers to focus on just movement. It’s slick, although I recommend increasing the sensitivity of the left stick.

There’s also an icon at the bottom of the screen that activates “Ballistic” mode, which slows enemies down for a brief period of time, while making the ship’s weapons more powerful.

The main mode in Ballistics SE is called “Waves." The objective is for the player to destroy a set number of enemies, thus ending that particular wave. Once that is done the player will progress to the next wave, which gets progressively harder.

To help the player out, the game assigns them a limited number of points which can be spent on ship enhancements. For example, the player could choose to improve the speed and firepower of the ship, or focus on a longer Ballistics mode and the ability to drop mines. It’s an interesting addition, allowing an impressive amount of flexibility.

In addition to Waves is a challenge mode. This presents a number of intense levels for the player to try and get as high a score as possible. To help, the player is given a lot more points to spend on improving their ship.

Ballistic SE is also a fantastic looking game, with explosions aplenty looking wonderfully sharp, even on the original iPad. The soundtrack also gets the adrenaline pumping. The only downside is that there is the occasional bout of slowdown when things get hectic.

Ballistic SE will make fans of the genre very happy. It looks and sounds great, controls well and will keep the player coming back to best their high scores.