Since we’re still in the January doldrums of video game releases, finding a worthy Game of the Week has become a difficult task, especially in the typically fast moving mobile game space.
Mesmeracer, a hypnotizing, arcade title, is a difficult game to describe, and doesn’t really fit into a specific genre of video game.
In some respects, it has a lot in common with retro top-down shooters, but even then, it feels like a different kind of pick-up-and-play arcade experience.
In order to ensure your two vehicles (I assume they’re some kind of spaceships) have adequate fuel, you need to swipe them left and right across the screen, causing them to constantly criss-cross. When you’re moving forward with both vehicles travelling symmetrically, your fuel depletes rapidly. When it reaches zero, your run is over.
While this sounds simple, when objects that resemble floating asteroids get thrown into the mix, the game becomes considerably more difficult, especially when they begin flying at you across the screen at a rapid pace.
Mesmeracer’s visuals are perhaps what’s most interesting about the game. While there’s a modern, minimalist sheen to the title’s graphics, it also resembles a game pulled right out of the early 80s Intellivision era of gaming.
There are also various colour options for the game, though they don’t change how it performs in any way.
Mesmeracer doesn’t offer a particularly deep experience, but it’s the type of game you can pick up and play for a dozen or so minutes, in order to kill some time.
b-interaktive GmbH’s Mesmeracer is available in the iOS App Store for $0.99.
