Gamescom 2017: Space Pioneer is a slick free to play shooter for iOS and Android

There's a Destiny feeling to Space Pioneer. Not in the way the game looks, or even in the way you control it, but in the way it feels. It's thick with loops, and they twist around you in the most pleasant ways.

It's a single-stick shooter that sees you exploring the universe planet by planet, with a robot friend tagging along for the ride.

The levels are short and sharp, split into mission-based chunks that see you completing objectives. Most of these play out in the same way – you follow an arrow under your feet to a glowing circle. Stand in it for a bit, then move to the next.

More often than not standing in the circle unleashes a horde of monsters that want to destroy you. And they're going to do their utmost to ensure that you don't reach your goals.

The combat is chunky and engaging. There's a satisfying weight to the blasting that a lot of other shooters can't quite manage. And the auto-fire makes mowing down waves of slobbering beasts a cinch.

In one mission I have to take down a towering boss, calling in air strikes from an orbital space station as the giant wasp-ant-beast-thing stomps around menacingly.

Another sees me hacking a drone, following it as it moves around. I drop a turret to cover my back, then cackle as the gunfire rips my assailants to shreds.

There might not be that much pioneering to do here, but the short blasts of violence are perfectly suited to gaming on the go, and there's enough depth in the levelling up options that players looking for more bite are going to be pretty pleased as well.

There's a chance that Space Pioneer might get old pretty quickly, and only time will tell if it's got enough meat on its bones to stick around on your homescreen.

But right now I don't care. Right now I want to shotgun skittering ice beasts in the face until they're dead. Because that's just the sort of guy I am.