Price: $0.99 Score: 8/10 Category: Games
If you like sci-fi, big guns, and exploring platform-style game environments, then it’s high time you check out Frankie Pain, developed by Skillpod Media. While this “run and gun” iPhone game may not be perfect, there’s a lot to like about this futuristic shoot ’em up.
You play as, surprise surprise, a guy called Frankie Pain. Frankie’s a snarky, yet skilled mercenary working with the military to test a new weapon. However, things don’t go as expected: while he’s testing the weapon, the site gets attacked by a mysterious contingent of soldiers. Turns out Frankie’s got to face off against an old enemy: General Am’Elam, the leader of the alien invasion on Earth.
The plot unfolds along your journey, and the dialogue between Frankie and the other characters is really very amusing. And while the graphics in Frankie Pain may not be “mind-blowing” as the App Store description states, they are still quite good, and didn’t suffer from any lag on the iPhone 4S.
One issue that plagues an otherwise fun game is the control issue. The latest version of Frankie Pain (Version 1.02) has improved the controls by leaps and bounds by literally improving your leaps and bounds: the developers have improved the jump ability. They’ve also added configurable controls in the Settings Menu.
The default control setting, Control 1, is fairly good, but still isn’t perfect. The orientation of the buttons used to move about the screen is a bit clunky and too close together, and results in frequently hitting the wrong button. Control 2 is a bit better, but there is still room for improvement.
With 13 levels to master, a cute lady Professor acting as your right-hand man, and tons of weapons to unlock, Frankie Pain for iPhone offers up a surprising amount of fun for a freebie. And despite some minor control annoyances, Frankie Pain is worth playing.
Frankie Pain is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this iPhone Game Review