Eurofighter

As they cost an estimated £30 million, it's unlikely you'll be getting to pilot a Eurofighter any time soon. Even if they have a bit of a high street shop style sale on them in view of the economic recession, it's still unlikely you'll ever fly one since it'd take more than a few lessons to get the hang of it.

Eurofighter could be your best alternative to the real thing. And not only could it be the best alternative to that, it could also be the best alternative to most of the flying/shooting genre on mobile phone, being, as it is, largely excellent.

The idea is simple. Take control of a modified Eurofighter and set about completing a series of goals, most of which involve shooting down mostly sky dwelling terrorists and their assorted death-causing spy equipment and weaponry.

The game is viewed top-down and takes place in skies above a series of landscapes. Enemies come in a range of guises - in individual fighter jets of their own, in flying formations, helicopters, boats, tanks and other land vehicles and from bases hidden in the terrain. But they all have one thing in common, which is that they're armed and trying to kill you using their impressively accurate bullets.

Of course, you have bullets of your own. Beginning with your front-firing standard cannon, which automatically spews lead into the sky and requires nothing more from you than simply lining up a target.

This cannon can be upgraded by grabbing power-ups into the more effective double autogun, and there are more weapon upgrades too. Get an energy gun upgrade and you can press '5' for an additional flurry of incapacitating electrical charge, while the rocket launcher upgrade gives you some nicely explosive rockets to fire into enemies.

On top of these weaponry upgrades, there are also repair, extra life and bonus score icons to help you through each battle fraught level.

While all of this is impressive, of course, only one thing really matters, which is how the whole thing is put together and how it plays. Fortunately, Eurofighter's makers have done a job worthy of a medal.

The game has the welcome feel of a shooter better balanced than a juggling clown riding a penny farthing. Enemy ammo glides towards you at speeds that just give you time to nip out of the way, while levels gradually build their difficulty from single fighters to screens filled with enemies, ammo and explosions.

It has a very non-linear feel to it too. Aside from completing certain objectives that pop up during a level, what you shoot and don't shoot is up to you.

Not shooting down targets when you're approaching them simply means they'll continue shooting at you when you pass them, potentially giving rise to situations where you're completely surrounded with near impassable gunfire.

This makes tactics and good decision making key, especially if you're running low on health and could do with avoiding a tough dogfight.

Especially in later levels, Eurofighter has the feel of a supreme retro shooter. Its minimalist sound effects give it the sound of one too with one noise indicating approaching machine gun fire and one indicating you've taken a hit.

There's little minimalist about the overall game though. It does only have the one single player Story mode and two difficulty levels, but you'll enjoy that Story mode from the first take off to the adrenaline-charged final landing.