Tilt to Live

Developer: One Man Left
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS

Gameplay [rating:4.5/5]
Controls [rating:4.5/5]
Graphics and Sound [rating:5/5]
Re-use / Replay Value [rating:4.5/5]

Overall Rating:

Developed by the new kids on the block, One Man left, Tilt to Live is a fast paced tilt-based action title in which the overall aim, is to try and stay alive for the longest amount of time, possible. The game plays out in one continuous level. As you start the game for the first time it will do something I've yet to see any other game do. TTL asks you how you're about to hold your device. There are four options to choose from, including: Regular, Top-Down, Sleepy and Custom. Regular depicts holding the device at a 45 degree angle, while Top-Down sees you holding the device horizontally in front of you and Sleepy being holding the device a "above your face" position, while laying face up. The Custom option allows you to tilt the device to the right orientation before deciding to re-calibrate the device's accelerometer.

The game is simple. You play as a white arrow, and using your device to tilt this arrow around the screen frantically, you have to fend off and destroy ever multiplying red dots. The catch? .. These dots don't just appear and fly around randomly, they're sort of like homing missiles, set on following one thing - you. But, you won't have to fend these little pests off on your own. Throughout the game you'll encounter various orb like weapons, each harboring its own special power, but in order to activate this wealth of power you have to smash your arrow right through the center of one .. kind of hard when you're trying to avoid all these red dots. But, it gets harder. Every so often these dots will group together to form what I call certain retro death. In actual fact they congeal together to create different objects, most commonly the setup of retro pong. So, as well as trying to avoid smaller red dots, you then find yourself in the middle of a deadly pong game. Did I mention the game ends as soon as your arrows' outer layer touches the surface of this red matter? .. Yeah.

As you progress through the game though you'll unlock more and more weapons to help you on your battle against the rising. The most common of these being:

Shock Blasters - These orbs are coloured red and signified by a yellow lighting bolt. Touching them will emit a small but effective shock wave which will disintegrate nearby red matter.

Wave Basters - Another powerful type of weapon which when collected radiates a wave of immense power, wiping out all red matter in its path.

Ice Blasters - Unlocked in future stages of the game, ice blasters are probably the most effective of the weapons available. Touching these bad boys will result in them emitting a huge blast of ice. As a result any nearby red matter will be turned into ice spheres .. all you have to do is, well .. smash them to pieces.

Moving onto graphics and sound, the sheer attention to detail in Tilt to Live, is immense. Really. It's very rare you see a title with such quality and personality about it, but One Left Man have hit the nail on the head with this one. Set out on an animated green-tinted backdrop, all game elements appear clean, crisp and the explosive colour of all weapons uses within the game just seem to add to this feast of eye-candy.

Overall, Tilt to Live is an exceptionally well designed, visually pleasing and frantically challenging action title. With the tight integration of leader boards via AGON Online, the ability to share your scores with the world via Facebook and Twitter, 27 awards to collect throughout the game and unlockable super-weapons, Tilt to Live really is one of those hidden gems.

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