Eliminate Pro (free, iTunes link) is the long-awaited, much-hyped first-person shooter from top iPhone developers ngmoco. Is it worthy of the hype? Mostly. As far first-person shooters go, there’s nothing you haven’t seen elsewhere one other devices. But as games on the iPhone go, it shows some satisfying polish. The game’s killer feature is excellent online multiplayer gameplay.
Eliminate Pro is free to play, up to a point, as the developers have decided to use an insidious system of charging to continue to make progress in the game after a certain amout of time has elapsed. Frankly, I prefer the one-time fee model, as this pay-to-be-more-powerful punishes users who can’t continually fork out extra mone—and a lot of us are a little short of cash these days.
Here’s how Eliminate Pro‘s system works: your character has a store of 12 energy units that are automatically topped up every 24 hours for free. Playing an online match uses up 4 of your energy units, so you can play three times in a day, and then have to wait for a recharge. Or, you can buy more. Technically, you can play in the online matches without any energy, but you won’t gain any in-game currency, which is used for leveling up and purchasing new items. And there’s the rub. If you don’t buy more energy, it becomes hard to earn credits. And without credits, you’re limited to your starting weapon (machine gun equivalent), basic armor, and no upgrades. While you do earn something in those three matches you get for free, it rapidly dwindles behind the devoted, who will quickly have access to much better gear.
The money you frag so hard to earn in-game can be spent on a truly bewildering array of objects. New armors, with specific bonuses to things like speed or defense. Unlocking new weapons takes money too. And once you’ve unlocked a weapon, you can upgrade different stats, which takes even more cash. While I do really enjoy the customization aspect of tweaking all your items for your own play style and the ability to avoid weapons you’ll never use, the huge amount of in-game currency required is prohibitive. Here’s were they get really tricky…you can exchange energy for credits. So you can buy up energy with real world money, then use it to get credits, so you can buy better weapons and armor than anyone else.
Of course, even the best weapons in the game won’t save you from the limitations of touch controls (yes, another game that uses a simulated joystick). But at least all your enemies are hampered in the same way. Perhaps I’ve just spent too much time gaming on PCs and consoles, but, at times, attempting to play the frenetic pace and required accuracy of an FPS with the iPhone’s touchscreen made me want to scream and throw the thing.
Yet, despite these problems, I still was able to enjoy Eliminate. The game itself is fast paced and fun, and you know everyone is saddled with exactly the same crappy control scheme you are, so you don’t feel too cheated when you fumble with the controls. The online matches are very fast to join, and I didn’t have any trouble with lag.
Conclusion
Despite my dislike for the in-game purchasiing system and flawed touch controls, I found Eliminate to be a fun game. ngmoco knows by now what goes into a good game, and this one is expertly turned out. If you’re just looking to play for around 15 minutes a day, then the free gameplay should keep you happy. We rate Eliminate Pro a 7.6 out of 10, recommended.