Particle Mace

Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

Particle Mace is a shooter without any shooting. It's a deep space spin-a-thon that's all about smashing the titular weapon into asteroids and enemies.

There's a fierce retro vibe to proceedings, and a simple, if not perfect, control scheme that turns the bottom of the screen into a touch pad.

The game keeps the meat of its experience a little hidden, but if you're willing to have a poke around you'll find an intriguing, flawed little arcade blast.

All about that mace

You control a little spaceship that's stranded in some unknown corner of the universe. The only weapon at your disposal is a collection of particles that are gravitationally attracted to your hull.

Spinning in circles tosses these particles around, allowing you to smash them into anything that's threatening your safety. At least that's the theory.

The bottom of the screen acts as a touch pad. There's a circle with a dot in the centre, and swiping a finger around moves you in that direction. The farther from the centre of the circle, the faster the ship goes.

It's not a perfect system, and a couple of times while we were playing it we managed to slide our fingers completely off the screen and tap the home button.

There are high-score chasing modes, but the most interesting thing the game has to offer is its challenge mode. Here you need to complete 150 tasks ranging from the simple to the odd.

You might need to stay within a circle for a set amount of time, or smash a number of foes without destroying any asteroids.

The challenges shake up the gameplay enough that things don't get staid, and chasing your high score, and unlocking more ships, gives you reason enough to plug away at the other modes.