Iron Sight HD

We've yet to see mechs and fearsome robots taking the place of infantrymen in war, but when that day comes we can be sure half the population will have been sufficiently trained in their use thanks to mech-centric video games.

Add to this pile Iron Sight HD, a strategy game that envisions a future in which the corporations are at war with a popular rebellion. Perhaps less surprisingly, it’s also a future in which these two factions are polite enough to take turns at shooting each other.

Sigh definition

Comparisons to Worms are inevitable, but in fact Iron Sight HD feels more like a watered-down version of Hogs of War on PlayStation, and its graphics are just as iffy. Battles take place in enclosed canyons or deserted isles that look very rough. It seems like the upgrade to HD actually reveals more flaws than it fixes, with grid boundaries and lines on the ground as plain as day, while the models of the mechs clip through the landscape and other objects with abandon.

The environmental problems aren’t confined to visuals, either, with your war machines occasionally getting snagged on trees, corners of buildings, or the dreaded invisible walls. None of this does any favours for the already clunky movement and clumsy turning. The presence of the D-pad on the Xperia Play does eliminate a lot of that irritation, but still a sense of gracelessness remains.

Mortar racing

The turn-based combat is a little better. By pressing Triangle and X you can set the trajectory of your weapon. Holding down R shoulder charges your firing gauge while releasing it fires the weapon. You do this back and forth until one team is wiped out, moving around hills and picking up weapon crates as you go.

Sadly, there isn’t a lot of depth or strategy to the combat, even if it is very functional. Most of the weapons are variants of the same missile, and there’s very little to think about tactically apart from 'I had better hit him first.'

The variety in the weapons is only sustained by a few extras, like the teleport, the homing missile, and the artillery support. The former of which even allows you to move and fire again after using it, which feels a little unbalanced. On top of that the symbols for weapons are confusing and all very similar, with upgraded versions of the same missile only differentiated from their less powerful versions by a tiny stripe.

Even so, it’s still possible to gain some enjoyment from the battles by turning the targeting handicap off, which adds slightly more challenge. There’s also a multiplayer mode for added difficulty (if you can ever get into a match).

Line of sight

Meanwhile the camera is a particular nuisance, being unable to adjust in any useful way. You can zoom-out to view the battlefield, but as soon as you move or aim the camera comes swooping back down to you. Even when you fire it comes back to the closest it can be, messing up your line of sight and scrapping your shot.

Iron Sight HD is a functional and average addition to the genre that a few may enjoy. But for most gamers there will simply be too many flaws to handle.