Namco Bandai preps anticipated arcade match game Bird Zapper! for iOS and Android

Having listed Bird Zapper! as one of my most promising iOS games from GDC, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm looking forward to the game that Namco Bandai describes as Fruit Ninja meets Bejeweled.

It's an apt description too, as you mix up fast gestures with a match-three mechanism; the basic gameplay involving connecting same-coloured birds that move across the screen - actually birds on telegraph wires - with a sweep of your finger.

Connecting more than three of the same type sees the birds electrocuted, vanishing in a shock of skeletons and popping blocks. Obviously, your mission is to connect as many birds as possible, creating combos to score high points, with bombs, freeze blocks and other special power ups making the experience more exciting.

The game has three modes: Survival; which has you swiping as fast as possible until your power meter runs out; a 60-second-long Blitz mode; and an endless Zen mode, which has no score or time limit. Game Center support on iOS will enable you to compare your score with your friends.

Still, it's the game's combination of fast gameplay and fun feedback - particularly in terms of how complex you make your connecting gestures - that hopefully will make Bird Zapper! one of those addictive 99c titles to look out for when it's released soon.

Bird Zapper! is due for iPhone, iPad and Android priced 99c, sometime in March.