If you grow tired of the horror of Dead Space you can rinse away the taste of blood for a measly $.99 with the charming Max Adventure from Imangi Studios. This engaging dual -stick shooter wrapped in a child’s story lets you tackle aliens of the cartoon variety in a series of objective-based levels on a quest to save the world - or at least bring normality back to your neighborhood.

Although Max contains a survival mode, it combats the repetitiveness found in many twin-stick shooters by including a story mode that takes place in rather large and interesting levels where you’re free to roam around and zap the aliens who‘ve kidnapped your parents. The objectives are fairly simple like saving kids, leading a friend to safety or clearing out pods but it’s surprising how much interest these objectives provide beyond simply scoring points.

Most of the missions take place in in the streets and backyards of your suburban neighborhood where you battle the invaders, unlock gates, destroy cars and mailboxes that hold power-ups and collect coins for upgrades. The upgrades are nothing like Gun Bros. but they’re useful in providing a multi-shot, speed-shot and power-shot for your handy dandy zap gun. There’s also a farm level and a mothership level where you get to ride a hovercraft.

The action is measured rather than frenetic although you will need to circle-strafe and evade turret fire but the levels are big enough that you can find places to rest up and heal.  Some may find Max Adventure's story short and game play easy when compared to MiniGore or Gun Bros but I found the pace enjoyable. There’s a lite version that includes a survival level to see if Max floats your boat.

The controls are standard dual-stick and work well. At times you’ll wish you had some control over the camera to get a better view as you’ll have to rely on the audio to know if you’re hitting targets. The orchestral music fits nicely with the theme. Max’s recent update gives you the Arena, it’s toughest survival level.

Along with Dead Space, Max proves there’s more than one way to skin a cat or kill an alien. 

4 Stars

goyami@comcast.net