Price: $1.99    Score: 8/10    Category: Games

In Color Bandits HD an evil steampunk boss sucks every last ounce of color out of the world. As a cat-in-armor protagonist it’s you’re job to bring the color back.

The only way to save the world from the doldrums of grayscale is to shoot the bad guy invaders through six worlds of side-scrolling shoot-em-up action. The more enemies your cat in shining armor kills the more colorful the world becomes, but along with color comes more formidable enemies.

The battle over color begins in a familiar but unidentifiable world where the things that stand out most are the bad mechanical minions barreling through the sky dropping bombs. With the left joystick your cat hero moves back and forth on the screen while the right directional joystick determines where you’re aiming and firing.

The dual controls make for a moving-this-way-but-shooting-that-way effect that’s quite compelling, but where Color Bandits HD really wins is with collectable perks that appear onscreen for a chance to improve health and upgrade weaponry.

While the health recovery is perfect for restoring the health indicator in the upper part of the screen, all the different weapons the cat protagonist picks up make for strong bursts of fun.

Lazers shoot at approaching spiders and descending rockets with precision for example, while fiery smoke puffs soar at the enemy with ultimate desctructo power. These upgrades add variety and power as the mechanical bad guys approach, making for a nice little game of destroy and survive.

All in all Color Bandits HD is another fun casual gamer from Chillingo.