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In my opinion, dual stick shooters are awesome. My first one was Alive4Ever and from there I just didn’t stop! Every single one seemed to bring something new, be it beautiful visuals, intense gameplay or just great new themes (space, forest, graveyard etc.)

Naturally, when I saw the screenshots for Bloodstream Raiders I thought, ‘Woot! Another dual stick shooter!’ I was to be disappointed.

The gameplay just feels flat to me, probably due to the fact this game is not a ‘traditional’ dual stick shooter. In the game you are a white blood cell presumably in a blood vessel and viruses come towards you. You have to shoot them with antibodies and stop them from getting across the screen. The twist is that you, the blood cell, can’t get damaged, so you are actually just a defensive turret, which actually turns this game into a defense game!

To many, this concept may seem fun but to me, it was pretty boring, as I don’t think defense and dual stick shooting mix very well. However, gameplay isn’t everything! I found the graphics really fitting and effective. The 3d ‘characters’ and background really made the game stand out, and the menu looks and feels really polished. The fact that the start game button is a fingerprint pad that says ‘verification required’ just adds to the atmosphere of the game.

The sounds in this game are quite good, from the stereotypical techno-logic bleeps you get when you tap a button in the menu, to the satisfying slurping crackles you get when you eliminate a virus. However, the shooting sounds get really quite annoying after a few seconds, which forces me to turn the sound effects off. Also, the game lacks any background music whatsoever. This is always a bad thing as it kind of makes me feel the developers haven’t fully developed their game. Luckily, the game allows you to play your own music, but I still don’t feel this covers up for the lack of background music.

Overall, this app is ok, if you’re looking for a reasonable dual stick shooter side scrolling shooter (the enemies come towards you and the background moves to the side) or if you’ve always wanted to play a defense game with a dual stick control method, but otherwise, I’d have to say you should pass this app.

Controls-3.5/5
Graphics- 4.5/5
Sound- 3.56/5
Fun factor- 2.5/5
Value- 3/5

Overall rating 3/5

Bloodstream Raiders on the App Store.

Tags: $2.99, Bloodstream Raiders, Bloodstream Raiders Review, Review