Nex

With all due respect to the good people of America, Starbyte clearly styled Nex to appeal to a very specific section of the US populace. The game features big armoured marines (sporting crewcuts, naturally) and an aggressive alien foe engaged head-on with oversized weaponry and a crunching rawk soundtrack.

The language selection screen even informs me that I speak American, rather than English.

All set for another mindless adolescent blaster? Well stand down, soldier. Although Nex does indeed feature a fair amount of corridor-trudging first-person gunplay, it also throws in a tactical element.

Complementing the Doom-style mayhem is the requirement to command a small squad of up to three marines, issuing basic orders and jumping into their boots where necessary.

This is no tacked-on feature, either. With such slow-moving marines (must be all that armour) and multiple lightning-quick foes all converging on your position from all directions, the need to establish a defensive perimeter soon becomes apparent.

Each level gives an active objective, such as reaching an exit point or rigging a particular area of the map with explosives. Accomplishment means orchestrating a tight operation of move and cover, making swift progress without allowing any of your squad to become isolated or your flank exposed.

It’s not just a case of sticking close together, either, as the corridors are too narrow to move in anything wider than single file formation, making it nigh-on impossible for anyone behind the leader to get a shot off. This means you often need to split up and reconvene in a more open hub area.

Achieving such tactical play is relatively simple. The first person controls straightforwardly involve manipulating a virtual D-pad in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Aiming is automatic, leaving you to hammer the 'fire' button to shoot.

Touching the mini-map in the top left hand corner expands it to full screen, complete with zoom and scroll features. This is also where you issues commands to your team, tapping their icon and then a location on the map to send them forth accordingly. From here, you can also set them to follow you or one of your crew, or to simply stand guard.

It has to be said that the bare bones of Nex - from the core combat to the level design - are fairly prosaic and rather unsatisfying. Certainly taking on the alien invaders directly is something of a grind, more akin to an old skool hack and slasher than a modern shooter.

Nuanced depth comes from avoiding making your gun overheat with repeated use, but this mainly serves to frustrate as you’re suddenly set upon by three or four enemies, seemingly at random, with absolutely nothing to throw back at them for several precious seconds.

Perhaps the option of a melee attack that stuns or pushes your enemies back would have been a good idea.

Against this rather dumb design, though, we must mention the enemy AI, which gives a convincing impression of a smart, almost instinctive, foe. You often find they forego an obvious direct assault, attempting to flank you and even occasionally backing off when they see that you have an entrance covered.

Ultimately, taken as a standard shooter Nex is found wanting. There are better experiences on the App Store, but with a neat tactical element thrown in it suddenly becomes worthy of consideration for those after something a little different in their pumped-up action games.