There’s nothing so ultimately satisfying than wearing a uniform and blowing up the bad guys. Even if they are not terrorists but just some corporate honchos controlling the country’s limited oil reserves. Total Recoil gives you the flimsiest excuse to engage in mega explosive action but who cares. It’s time to get those rifles, cannons and all guns blazing to blow up everything that moves, and then everything that doesn’t.
Reveling In Aggressive Fire Power
Total Recoil starts off on an aggressive note, with a top commander instructing you, a lowly Private, on how to engage in some kick ass shooting. Initially the action is set on an oil rig, and you’re tasked with shooting enemies who come in waves. There are also crates, oil barrels and big chests that can be blown up to collect bucks or gold coins. Additional fire power comes in the form of Killstreaks that unleash more devastation in the form of artillery strikes, smart bombs, tankers and missile launchers. Once you’ve cleared all waves, you’ll head over to do battle with the big boss and face the biggest Recoil challenge. Clearing levels will get you promoted to a higher rank and unlock additional weapons and power ups.
Most of the action in Total Recoil is controlled by two virtual joy sticks on either side of the screen, the left one controlling the movement and the right one the shooting. Touch based gestures also come into play when you use heavy artillery and airstrikes to indicate your targets. Weapons can be managed from another virtual button on the screen, though it does get a little tricky to change weapons when you are in the middle of some chaotic action. As you blow stuff up, you discover additional fighting gear such as the chainguns or tankers which you can use for a limited time. The weapons collection is pretty good ranging from assault rifles to flamers, chainguns, canons, grenade launchers, and hammerheads.
Equipment or power ups come by way of coin magnets, speedy boots, extra lives, invincibility powers, powerful shields, and damage multipliers, all fantastic game enhancements. You will definitely want to give them all a try. You can also chip in some real world currency and pick up buck multipliers or gas masks though IAPs. Although you can play the game with in-game currency, the frequent ads that pop-up might nudge you to buy a pack at least as a way to get rid of them.
The shooting and blowing up mayhem in Total Recoil is gripping, addictive, fun and engaging. Although the action is mostly shut-your-brain-and-just-shoot-stuff type of thing, the boss battles require some level of thinking and strategizing. There are tons of challenges and moving up levels is quite tough, but if you persevere long enough, you will get through and feel darn good about it too!
Yay for Explosivity, Nay For Joysticks
The game itself is well designed, the stunning graphics and excellent animation adding to the game’s plus points. But every good game must have its negatives and in Total Recoil, it comes in the shape of the virtual buttons. They offer little control over your movements, resulting in bullets being splayed all over the place. It’s terribly frustrating when you find yourself going all over the place except where you want to. Another sore thumb is the pop-up ads that show themselves up at all the inappropriate moments of the game. Heyzap, an app that lets you save game achievements and scores also promptly does its duty by popping up at the end of each round reminding you to get social.
While you can ignore the pop up ads that make their way on to the screen every now and again, you cannot really accept the lack of control you have over the virtual buttons. It is a game killer and there’s no escaping the fact. Total Recoil is a game you will definitely enjoy playing for sometime, but the lack of depth in variety after a point of time and the pop ups and virtual buttons will eventually do you in later on. However, despite its drawbacks, Total Recoil offers a lot of maniacal shooting action that is hard to resist. It’s free and it’s a feel good action game that every frenetic game lover should check out.
