Burn Baby, Burn!
Against the Fire! (US$0.99), ia rather ominously named adventure application developed by the team at Meridian. Meridian are also responsible for the excellent RPG app Alive 4-ever, of which Against the Fire! bares more than a slight resemblance to. Meridian have stuck to their winning design and gameplay formula in Against the Fire! The basic gameplay premise in Against the Fire! is almost exactly the same as Alive 4-ever and this is not necessarily a bad thing. Both apps offer similar thrills and spills, but come is vastly different visual packages.
Against the Fire! is an adventure application which bases itself around the fact that your character (Andrew, an amateur fireman), must rescue helpless civilians from a hotel which is being invaded by "Fire ball monsters". The idea is great and I was excited to have the responsibility of reviewing this app. Meridian has managed to differentiate this application from the many RPG shooter games out there, both on iPhone and non-iPhone platforms. Against the Fire! is cleverly disguised as a fun and innocent heroism-based app, but if you swap the harmless fire-hose with a loaded a gun and the Fire ball monsters with a living enemy (Zombies, anyone?), this app is RPG shooter to the core. In my mind, this kind of differentiation should be applauded, as it adds depth to a very theme-shallow genre and invites new fans into the RPG world.
Aside from the fantastic premise and inviting aesthetics, Against the Fire! still has some catching up to do before it is on par with its big brother (or sister, depending on what you're into) application, Alive 4-ever. The area which lags behind the most is the actual enjoyment that is received via the gameplay. I don't like saying this, but, I did not find Against the Fire! particularly enjoyable, which is a shame, as it is loaded with potential. The two main issues which caused this unfortunate letdown are; that I found the character's movements difficult to control and that after the first five levels the game becomes ridiculously difficult. Other members of the MyAppSource team agree with me on the sudden jump in difficulty but not necessarily on my lack of manoeuverability during gameplay.
Luckily, the team at MyAppSource is full of ideas men (or women, depending on what you're into) and we have come up with some simple ways in which Against the Fire! can be altered to make this review redundant. The first idea we had was, if the difficulty of the levels (at least for the first seven or so) be toned down a little so that users can get a better feel for the game and not consider themselves hopeless when they are unable to complete the fifth level. The next, and perhaps most mind-blowingly revolutionary idea we've had, is to change the means of controlling the character. The directional pad is a bit small for my grown-man fingers and I believe that Against the Fire!'s gameplay would only stand to improve if the character was moved by 'tilt' control. Tilt control in this app would, in my opinion, make the gameplay incredibly entertaining and provide another point of differentiation for Against the Fire! as I have not yet played, or witnessed, any accelerometer controlled RPG apps.
All in all, Against the Fire! is not a lost cause by any stretch of the imagination. With a few minor adjustments this app would drastically improve. At less than a dollar and with many positive iTunes Store reviews this app is worth the purchase, if only to prove me wrong in my assertion that the gameplay is a little too tough. Don't hesitate to send us an email or drop us a comment about how hopeless we are at Against the Fire!, and to tell us that the level's aren't that hard, we'll probably ignore you, but it's worth a shot.
MyAppSource Rating: Three Stars!
