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Get set for an Urban Attack on your mobile

Vivendi Games Mobile's shooter set to blast onto phones

Get set for an Urban Attack on your mobile
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| Urban Attack

Quake on a mobile phone is a rubbish idea. Phones might be technically capable of running that kind of first-person shooter, but their keypads simply aren't up to it.

There. We've said it.

However, thinking laterally can pay dividends, as shown when EA Mobile turned Doom into a turn-based mobile game called Doom RPG. And now Vivendi Games Mobile is having its own stab at making an FPS that works on phones.

It's called Urban Attack, and it's one of the most innovative mobile games we've seen in a while. Set in the year 2046, you play Yuri, a freedom-fighter battling against a totalitarian regime.

In truth, it's closer to shooter games like Time Crisis than traditional FPS titles, since for much of the game you don't control Yuri's movement, but instead focus on shooting enemies by pressing the '1' to '9' keys, which correspond to different parts of the screen.

However, there are 'run-aroundy' elements, as well as a sniper mode, and puzzle mini-games similar to those seen in I-play's 24.

Check the screenshots, though: much of Urban Attack takes place in a stark monochrome world, where the enemies are stickmen (and superbly-animated stickmen at that, which you can't tell from the screens). It reminds us of the ace Xiao Xiao stickman karate animations online.

The game is due out by Christmas and we'll be running a longer preview between now and our review, so click 'Track It!' to stay alerted when we next cover Urban Attack.

Trust us: this is one to watch.

Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)