DogFight

After 12 previous reviews on this site we've finally managed to come across a flying shooting game. DogFight, by WestRiver (not to be confused with the paid game of the same name by Joaquin Grech) is a top down fighter plane game. Although the idea is nothing new and has been around for years in various forms it does seem to work well on the android system though can become boring swiftly.

The plane is controlled by your finger and you need to draw a path for the plane to get close to enemies and shoot them down. As you play you come across various different type of enemy ranging from the very slow and low armoured to the kamikaze like planes and the faster tougher ones, all the while the background sky is changing colour. You are aided in your task by various power-ups which give you new weaponry, a shield and other advantages over the enemies.


The game for all it's playability does only have very limited sounds (things like gun shots, pinging of shots and planes blowing up) which is a little bit off putting. It is however the repetition of the game that is it's big downfall. There is only so many times you can guide a plane behind an enemy plane before asking yourself why you even bother.

Whilst it is fun, it's long term playability does need to be questioned. Although the game is literally brand new on the market (it's been up for about a week) and updates will be rolled out, I have to hope that West River do do something to add to it's long term playability. At the moment it's fun, basic and short lasting despite the challenge of needing to kill so many enemies to unlock the next plane (of which there are 3 of in the game).

Addictiveness-4/10 It's fun but won't have you hooked
Controls-7/10. They work well though do seem slow and although the idea is nice it's a little bit simple
Graphics-7/10. One of the more delightful parts of the game is that the background changes colour and the enemies are all different colours and shapes.
Sounds-2/10 Ping, ping, ping boom. Nothing to impress.
Originality-4/10 There is a lot of similar games out there and you'll likely have already played one on a browser.

Total score 24/59

Overall the game is very playable though you can't help but think it'd be easy to improve. Maybe adding tiered levels early on (10 kills in the first level, then 20 and so on) with purchasable upgrades and more variation would add to the games life span. I want to like it (and do) but I can't see myself coming back next week and putting it on again.

Game mark C