After all these years, I would never imagine that the Apollo Lunar Landing Module would star in its very own iOS shmup (shoot-em-up) for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, titled B-Squadron: Battle for Earth. It’s one of several ships that you get the chance of using within the game, which involves dealing with an alien invasion.
The levels in the game actually drive the story, which is a rare thing in a shmup, usually it’s just level after level of shooting stuff. In a way, it’s similar to that of a classic shmup that I really loved playing back in the day: Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Since the levels are integral to the story-telling, you get to see the environments change, from the moon’s surface, into space, and then finally, taking the fight back on Earth.
As such, the game’s graphics are a joy to look at. Unlike most games, like Raptor, where your ship’s payload gets tweaked in between missions, your ship’s weapons in B-Squadron are unlocked by power-ups obtained from destroying enemy ships (a majority of them UFOs of many different persuasions), and meteorites. So do remember to get those pill-shaped power-ups otherwise you’d be losing out.
Controls-wise, B-Squadron has a lot to offer, in the form of 4 different control schemes. In my case, I just prefer to stick to the default controls, although my ship does disappear from view, blocked by my thumb from time-to-time. B-Squadron: Battle for Earth is an awesome fun shooter with the Apollo landing craft a very cool edition to the hallowed halls of spaceships used in shmups.
The game gets a 4.5 out of 5 from us at Nineoverten.com. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. B-Squadron: Battle for Earth is available on the iTunes App Store, for just 99 cents, so be sure to check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/app/bsquadron/id541650867?mt=8
A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.
