Previews

Hands on with Landers on mobile

DeValley's latest shooter is getting ready to land

Hands on with Landers on mobile
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| Landers Invaders

There are floating baddies; you shoot them. Ever since Space Invaders shot-gunned the premise in 1978, developers have struggled to do something new with it. Landers is quite literally DeValley's spin on the concept, with a novel mechanic that revolves around turning the phone in your hand as you play.

You play as Lea, suggestively billed as 'a sexy Anti-G pilot'. The Landers of the title are the baddies, and it's your job to beat them off as they descend on you in waves, strafing along the walls of each level in your anti-gravity tank.

Putting aside the rotation feature for a moment, it appears that DeValley has strived to bring some depth to the heavily Galaga-influenced gameplay (for those that remember that old-skool classic). If one of your shots meets a shot coming in the other direction, for instance, the resulting combination creates a massive energy ball that you can send in the direction of your enemies or towards deformable scenery. The more shots it soaks up, the bigger it gets.

Each of the seven enemy types represents different stages of evolutionary progression, and each time you shoot them they regress by one stage, so that in the later levels you'll be aiming at the same enemies as in the early ones, but only after you've sequentially stripped them of several layers of dignity. They can do the same to you, meanwhile, as getting hit once destroys your tank and forces you to run around the levels on foot.

Power-ups feature, of course, in the form of crystals that you can accumulate and spend at the shop, where six different kinds of tank are available, each with their own qualities.

From what we've seen there's potential. The big question mark concerns the revolving phone concept. Turning the phone around while manipulating the controls feels a bit like slowly twirling a brick-shaped baton, and while we're looking forward to giving it an extended play our initial suspicion is that most players will forego this novelty feature.

Still, it all looks like solid vintage arcade hi-jinks. Click 'Track It!' to receive word of the definitive review.

Rob Hearn
Rob Hearn
Having obtained a distinguished education, Rob became Steel Media's managing editor, now he's no longer here though.