Tilt to Live for the iPhone test

Cell phone games often go to show that beautiful graphics and deep story are not mandatory aspects of a truly proper title. Do not get us wrong, we like games like N.O.V.A., Avatar and Final Fantasy and they clearly demonstrate handsets have the potential to become a decent replacement for portable consoles like Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. However, sometimes people just need to kill some time and would rather get down to simpler, less visually stunning titles and Tilt to Live for the iPhone is a gemstone in its class.

At first glance, the concept of the game is downright elementary – there is a cursor that you control by tilting the phone, green-colored battlefield with animated elements and evil red dots trying to destroy you. The screen also shows all weapons that are currently at your disposal to help you defend yourself and, of course, strike back at the invaders. Sounds pretty simple, doesn´t it? Well, just spend several minutes playing Tilt to Live and you will find yourself hating the red dots with passion, from the bottom of your heart and with your adrenaline level hitting the ceiling every time you manage to annihilate a huge wave of attackers. Your main goal is to get the best score you can and you truly need to break a sweat to do it. A lot of it. Aside from being able to brag about your score over the online service AGON or, alternatively, on Facebook and Twitter, you can use it to unlock new weapons and get various prizes (a total of 33). Some of them are truly entertaining - for an instance, The Meaning of Life says the answer to the great question of life, universe and everything is 42 (of course, this is a quote from „Hitchhiker´s guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams). And these bonuses can keep you playing again and again.

The graphics is nothing to write home about, but the visual effects are proper and do give the iPhone 2G a good run for its money. The background music and sounds of explosions also add color to Tilt to Live. We like the fact the accelerometer controls can be calibrated depending on the position of your body.



All told, Tilt to Live is a title that we  whole-heartedly recommend. Frankly, we did not expect to come across something just as addictive as Plants vs. Zombies so soon after the release of the latter, but the game is capable of robbing you of your lunch break for days. You can get yourself a copy for $1.99 (1.59 EUR).