There are so many twin stick shooter games on the App Store it’s increasingly hard to distinguish between them or get excited for any of them at this point. As players there’s certainly a growing feeling that we’ve seen all this game style has to offer, which makes it harder for developers to find a fresh idea or to get our attention. Much to our delight, Wispin has put a unique spin on the genre and made something pretty special and fresh.
There are so many twin stick shooter games on the App Store it’s increasingly hard to distinguish between them or get excited for any of them at this point. As players there’s certainly a growing feeling that we’ve seen all this game style has to offer, which makes it harder for developers to find a fresh idea or to get our attention. Much to our delight, Wispin has put a unique spin on the genre and made something pretty special and fresh.
Even though Wispin is obviously based on the twin-stick shooter framework, it’s not really a shooter at all. Instead you’ll be using your twin sticks to attack enemies up close by running into them. At this point you’re not doubt asking yourself, since moving obviously takes up only one of the sticks, what does the other thumb control? Well that answer is what makes Wispin pretty unique.
The right thumb stick changes which colors you can change into at any time, between red blue and green. The enemies are also one of those three colors. To defeat them you have to match the color of each enemy. So the left stick moves you around and the right stick is used to change colors. It’s different than anything I’ve played before and is really a fun dynamic to introduce.
The point of the game is to defeat waves of enemies called Bloopers, which spawn around the screen in various types and sizes. At first they’ll be little minis that you just need to run other while matching their color to defeat them. But after a few waves larger ones will appear that can hurl arrows or bombs or spit powerful laser beams at you. Take too many hits and the game ends.
In addition to the primary game mode there’s also a “Super Intense” mode that you can unlock that spawn endless waves of enemies and ends when you take a single hit. It’s super tough, but a nice change of pace after you’ve played the standard game a bunch. If you’d like you can also change the control scheme from joystick to tilt controls, but I much preferred the joystick controls. To me you kind of need the more exact controls when trying to pick off different colored enemies when they bunch up.
I can’t possibly say enough how incredible the graphics in Wispin are. Wispin looks like a cartoon come to life, and I still catch myself staring at it when I should be playing it. The background looks pitch perfect and the characters and enemies practically jump off the screen. Every element has super nice lines that if this exact style were used for a movie I’d happily watch it. It’s amazing to watch in motion and exhibits super high production value throughout the entire game.
My only complaint about Wispin is that I want there to be more here to look at and play. I’d love to see a wider variety of enemies, and more locales to fight them in. I’d like to see some sort of timed mode or goal based system. It’s fun to see how high you can score till you die but sometimes a nice objective is rewarding to go for. I’m hoping at some point they’ll patch the game to include more places to fight and more game modes.
There are rare times when the only complaint I have about a game is that I want more of it. What’s here is tangible; it’s not thin by any standard. But I enjoy my time with it enough that I want to experience it in a new and interesting way. Please Grumpyface Games, give us some more Wispin!
