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Bionic Surfer

by Eric March on June 15, 2009 at 3:42 pm

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(9 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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App Name:	Bionic Surfer
Developer:	Robert Casperson	Version:	1.0
Publisher:	Robert Casperson	Size:	37.6 MB
Category:	Action Games, Platform Games	Price:	$0.99 ($2.99)/Free

I said before that the platform game market is a bit underserved on the App Store, but even more undeserved is the action platformer.

Robert Casperson seems to think so too, and he hit me up with a face full of it in the form of his debut game Bionic Surfer. The story, if you really feel that one is necessary, is that Earth and its neighbouring colonies have been invaded by aliens, and the only person who can stop them is a shirtless gun-toting dude in Bermuda shorts. That would be you. Radical. But that weak-sauced back story pretty much sets the tone for what ends up being a pretty kick-ass action platformer with a good sense of self-aware humour and gameplay that is exactly as serious as its plotline isn’t. Or the dialog, for that matter.

So called upon to do your civic duty to save the worlds, you head off, find yourself a weapon, and start kicking some alien butt — presuming, as always, that the aliens have one. You’ll hop on platforms, jump chasms, and solve physics puzzles as you destroy land-based and airborne nasties armed with teeth, fireballs, plasma bolts and more. As you progress throughout the levels, the aliens get more and more nasty — and so does your weaponry. However, in order to advance to the next levels, you’ll need to collect crystals that are either laying about or dropped by dead creatures in order to gather enough to open the teleportal to the next section of the world. There are usually more lying about than are strictly necessary, and you’ll earn bonuses for picking up the extras. Crystals can be used to upgrade your health attack strength, and speed.

To help you solve the physics puzzles you’ll run across periodically, the second weapon you pick up in the game is the ~~zero-point energy gun~~ gravimetric disruptor, which is capable of lifting large objects and moving them around. This will allow you to move and stack blocks to reach otherwise inaccessible areas, grab explosive barrels to better destroy enemies, and perform other such tasks that can assist in getting you a few steps closer to the end game and final boss. Yes, there are bosses, as you’d expect; at the end of each of the five worlds in the game, you’ll have to face one down before you can move on. I mean, what’s an action platformer without boss fights?

The game is controlled entirely via on-screen buttons — thankfully, Robert chose not to shoehorn in accelerometer controls here. On the left are your left and right directionals, plus a zoom/aim button to zoom out of the action to get a wider view and where necessary, be able to shoot your weapons or grav gun at distant enemies/objects. Shooting in this zoomed-out mode is done by simply tapping where you want to shoot. Along the right side, from left to right, are your inventory (to switch weapons), action, fire, and jump buttons. They’re all pretty self-explanatory; the action button is to activate help dialogs (question marks), jump pads, checkpoints and such. Firing doesn’t generally require aiming in normal mode, as the game will auto-aim at the nearest enemy for you; however, in the event of multiple enemies and the auto-aim pointing at the wrong one, you can tap on the enemy you wish to fire at to switch targets. The grav gun however is always used with an on-screen tap-and-drag affair so you can position whatever it is you’re moving with the gun. Jumping is analog; the longer you press, the higher you jump, which is handy for making short hops on to low rises (jump pads and such) or high ones to reach taller ledges.

The graphics in Bionic Surfer are very nicely appointed; everything is well designed and clear, with some cool effects for the weaponry, and there are nice little notions floating around, such as the way ground foliage sways when you pass it. To compliment the lovely visuals, the game also sports a nice physics engine, including 2D ragdoll physics for you and your enemies. When you shoot one down it flops to the ground in a limp heap. Another nice little touch there. The sounds are all very well done, and everything is backed by a thumping, trancey soundtrack which I happen to think is pretty kick-ass.

Overall, Bionic Surfer is a very polished, entertaining, well-done action platformer that for some reason reminds me of certain aspects of Rainbow Arts’ classic action platformer Turrican — which just happens to be one of my favourite action platformers e-v-a-r, so recalling aspects of that can only be a good thing in my books. Right now, Bionic Surfer is available for a limited time at an introductory price of just $0.99 — 1/3rd the regular price, which is a total steal. Heck, even the regular price is short-selling itself, but who’s going to complain? This game rocks pretty hard, and anyone with an interest in the genre ought to go grab it right now. If you’re in doubt, grab the free, just-released lite version and give it a go.