$1.00 can buy some terrific games in the App Store and Star Battalion by Gameloft is one of them.  This space fighter will remind you of everything from Star Wars to Star Fox with nice evolving missions in beautifully diverse locations with explosive free-flight action that provides an awful lot of bang for your buck.

It’s not free-roaming like Galaxy on Fire 2 and there’s no ship building, trading or role-playing elements in this action-packed shooter.  You play the part of Sonan, the leader of the elite Orion Force Squadron that is assigned a series of diverse missions in outer space and on various planets involving traitors, terrorists, secret weapons and lots of combat.  You choose from 4 nicely detailed spacecraft before you take off and like HawX you receive detailed in-flight objectives from your commander. 

Your wingmen provide lots of chatter but little help other than to yell “Barrel roll” when you have a missile locked on to your craft.  You perform barrel rolls by swiping across the left side of the screen and loop by swiping vertically on the right side.  These maneuvers are indispensable in dispatching the many fighters, walkers, bombers, turrets and starships the game throws at you.

The missions involve more than simply destroying everything on the screen.  You’ll have to cover convoys, escort traitors, protect bases from walkers, tail suspicious craft through asteroids and search cities for trains besides pressing down on the fire button.  The graphics are well-suited for performing these activities as well as handling the explosive dog-fighting.

As with most Gameloft titles, the controls are stellar with either tilt or virtual stick to control your ship and touch controls for firing and acceleration.  There’s also a very nice cockpit view. If you hold the missile firing button down you can lock on to multiple ships which is crucial at times.
 
 

Star Battalion includes Co-op multiplayer online or locally via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and gorgeous HD graphics along with achievements.  If you like space fighting action Star Battalion is a highly polished beauty with great diversity and ease of play and while some may feel it ends too soon with only 15 missions, it’s hard to complain for a buck.

With games as good as Star Battalion at these rock-bottom prices, it’s no wonder that consoles are starting to feel the “phone” bite.  It’s a 4 * game at a 5 * price.

goyami@comcast.net