First person shooters deploy a simplicity about them that so many developers want to successfully harness. One can easily plug in whatever story and setting in the hopes of crafting a successful game but rarely does it work. The Call of Duty’s and Halo’s of the world even buckle under their own weight. So, with this ideology, it has come to no surprise that despite several attempts, a mobile first person shooter game has yet to be done well. Sure, a few can be named here and there, but even then, something is off. Gameevil’s Afterpulse is an attempt to put FPS’ on the map.
Afterpulse’s identity feels like a cross between Call of Duty’s hectic shooting style and SOCOM’s military tactic derivative combat. Somehow, with its own styling, it manages to successfully work within the confines of the genre. Afterpulse plays more like a FPS on consoles, rather than a iOS device. While feeling more like a matter of fact, the previous statement is an overwhelming positive. The fluidity of gameplay and shooting mechanics feel solid, familiar and entertaining.
Gameevil went with the brave idea of not including a single player. Sure, in most cases this is a huge negative. Some see it as laziness but here, for the most part, going for pure multiplayer works. The training grounds act for a player progression builder both in game and for your own abilities. Gameevil is well aware that not every player is going to come in and get used to mobile controls and be successful. Thankfully, in part to training, the delicate controls can be learned in a few training simulations. They are a bit twitchy, with a slight learning curve but when mastered, can add a degree of accuracy that feels almost as good as a controller.
Afterpulse’s game play is wrapped around solid weapons, the best being assault rifles, that level in quality. These can be unlocked through training, ranking up on the battlefield or simply purchasing them. Unfortunately, the fall back to almost all mobile games is the inevitable paywall system. Thankfully, here, for the most part, is not intrusive. The game really feels more based around you enjoying team deathmatch scenarios, rather than plopping more and more money down to support it. A welcomed change to the mobile market.
However, the most impressive part of Afterpulse is the visuals. Graphically speaking, Afterpulse is gorgeous. The full physically based rendering and post processing rendering make for some incredible, screen popping graphics. Shadows pier around corners and edges with accuracy. A ton of time went into fine tuning these details that make for an AAA experience. These graphics are on par with some shooters on the next gen consoles, no that was not a mis-print or exaggeration. They look that good.
VERDICT
Afterpulse is a Top 5 mobile game and easily one of the best shooters for the mobile platform. The game play resonates with players as being both entertaining and quick to master. Quality graphics amp the overall simplistic game play to feel like something that could be on consoles. The overall experience is one of the best you will have for a competitive shooter game.
Review written by Nathaniel Peck