Because games keep my blood pumping I decided to download Billy Frontier this past weekend while I was visiting my hometown of Johnstown, PA. Billy Frontier is a simple shooting game with 4 different modes including: Dueling, Shootout, Stampede, and Target Practice.
The Dueling mode consists of pushing the circle and triangle buttons on screen in the same pattern they appear on the screen. The more accurate you are the better the outcome. I didn’t spend much time with this mode. The next mode is Shootout which is a simple shooting game, you clear the area of aliens and then move forward to the next area. You can turn left and right in this mode. The next mode is Stampede. Stampede doesn’t involve any guns and is just a simple accelerometer based mode. In this mode you are running from stampede, the camera shows your character running towards you and the stampede right behind you. You are to avoid rocks and logs and can jump by tapping on the screen. You control the direction your character moves by tilting the iPhone. The last mode is Target Practice. Target Practice is just what the name suggest. In this mode you shoot things that are being launched in the air. Sometimes the camera will shake to make it harder.
Overall Billy Frontier seems as if it launched before it was perfected. When I was playing Shootout the game would just end randomly and send me back to the games menu screen. I also really didn’t like that the camera shook in target practice, I didn’t think this was necessary. I do like the fact that they let you choose between an offset or centered crosshairs which means you can have the crosshairs aim and shoot directly where you tap or have it offset above your finger so you can see better. Options like these are key to a good iPhone game. Billy Frontier is fun while it lasts but it’s not a game that seems very top-quality. $5.99 is not much for a game but if you aren’t sure you will like this game then wait for the price to go down a bit before you get this one.
Billy Frontier is available in the iTunes and iPhone appstores for $5.99.
