Blade of Betrayal

It might sound like a bit of a cop out, but letting a game beat you isn't always down to a lack of skill on your part. My local arcade, for instance, is full of cabinets where half the projection screens are burnt to a crisp. Combined with missing buttons and pedals a go-go, finding a scapegoat other than myself doesn't take too long.

That feeling of being cheated out of success is a shadow that looms over Blade of Betrayal from beginning to end, the controls never gelling with its platform-action. Dodgy deaths due to a sticky control method are certainly no selling point, but the game does have other perks that keep you plodding onward.

None more so than its combination of cel-shaded levels and cartoon-strip cinematics. The latter aren't mere decoration sandwiching the main event, but rather an engaging way of telling the game's tale of 'The Sopranos meets corporate espionage'. Playing as Spencer Corinth, the son of a murdered arms manufacturer, you initially set out to deal with the head of a rival company, a Mr Suke Hato, who is believed to be the prime suspect.

These doodles, though a little light and slightly cliché, do bestow a sense of character on the proceedings. It's a sense only furthered drawn out by the action itself. Consisting of linear, fairly uncomplicated levels, your main job is taking on legions of armed guards, security bots and robots through nine levels.

Starting off with just a knife and the odd grenade at your disposal, inching your way through each territory is a question of dashing up ladders or hiding behind crates, attacking your foes before they have a chance to turn their rifles on you.

Yes, there's nothing like the death of a family member to justify mass murder, but Blade of Betrayal isn't a sober look at mindless violence or even a hardcore action title. Instead, it's the kind of adventure that relies on repeated play, monitoring the set patterns of your enemies – guards to take out, bullets to dodge – meaning you make it just that little further each run through.

It's a re-run of the kind of title any gamer who played their way through the late '80s or early '90s will fit right into. Well, a ramped up re-run, anyway. Blade of Betrayal, though not especially complex, does take some time to play, which might sound like a plus. It's not the guns and guts that prove difficult, but rather the controls.

Moving Spencer is a question of sliding your thumb over a pad located in the bottom-left. The attempt is to mimic a thumbstick and, in theory, it allows 360 degrees of movement. The game's pace makes navigating in this manner less than a breeze. Overcoming pitfalls between rooftops and even managing to face the right way while you're having holes pummeled into you highlight just how stiff it is controlling Spencer.

The fact is, if Blade of Betrayal had come out ten or 15 years back, playing this on a pad or joystick would have been a cruise. Instead, Spencer's vengeful quest stutters, never running smoothly nor befitting the swift nature of its play. It's certainly not the only iPhone adventure to fumble with its fingers, but it does mean Blade of Betrayal is a mere warm reminder of weekends wasted at the arcade, rather than a full-on return trip.