Trisector Review

There's no arguing the copious amount of shoot-em-up/bullet hell style games on the App Store, though not many will say that's a bad thing. Trisector takes the idea of bullet hell and both makes it feel like a classic arcade game without causing players to have a seizure, and doesn't overwhelm them with impossible odds.

While classic arcade titles will have players dodging projectiles, terrain, and who knows what else, Trisector allows players the ease of forgetting about everything else except the enemies and the massive amount of ammunition hurled at their ship. Luckily, the player also has the capacity to send a ridiculous amount of bullets at these foes as well. The amount of firepower they can use is only increased with the various power-ups that colorfully exist on each and every level; taking the player's ship from a having a silly amount of salvo, to an excessive amount along with the ability to literally spray the playing field with bullets. Of course, enemies also share the ability to shoot out a copious amount of ammo, painting a colorful and chaotic screen with the mixtures.

The controls for Trisector may be a little difficult to get used to at first, especially on the larger screen of an iPad. Moving the spacecraft is done by slowly swiping fingers on the left side of the screen, while shooting is controlled by touching the middle of the screen with the other hand. The lack of on-screen joysticks is very much welcome as many games show difficultly in responding to the input from those on screen mechanisms. Luckily Trisector doesn't have problems working with its different control scheme, and after a while players will get used to this new way to work with a SHMUP.

This title is also graphically pleasant. While coming from just a one man team, it gives the impression that attention was paid to ensure the visual presentation would not be a mess. This is extremely important, as the screen will often get into disarray due to the mess of bullets. However, the game's developer did a great job at still allowing players to sort out the mess while still giving them a great time and awesome-looking graphics.

Shoot-em-ups hold a special place in many a player's hearts; especially any growing up in the heyday of arcades. Trisector uses many of the familiar elements of those aircraft SHMUPS and puts them to good use on the iOS. While it doesn't try to re-invent the wheel or attempt to do anything spectacularly different, it's nonetheless a pleasant casual experience from start to finish. Within its chaos is a great and beautiful game.