We all know what to expect in the western genre - cowboys, shootouts, bar brawls... Sometimes a slight twist is needed to keep things fresh. Two iPhone games, Death Call and Warm Gun, take the classic western feel and throw in a bit of sci-fi charm.

Add an unnecessary cog here, a tesla generator there, some ostentatious goggles, and blammo, you've got a steampunk game in the old west. Despite it being a pretty small niche, each title tackles the challenge very differently. Which is better? Which is most shiny? We loaded them both up on the iPhone for an old-fashioned, new-fangled shootout, and you better believe we aimed to misbehave -- iMore style.

Warm Gun

Although Warm Gun takes place after World War 3, it has all of the trappings of a western game, and plenty of steampunk flavour to go around. .

Warm Gun is a 3D shooter built on the Unreal Engine with a single game mode - deathmatch. The first player to hit a certain number of kills wins. If you're looking to mix it up, there's a free single-player version called Carnival of Bullets which offers simple (but fun) target practice, and gives you a feel for the controls. There are four characters to chose from, each with their own selection of weapons. The 49'er is a miner with a robot leg who packs a pistol, lever-action shotgun, and a bottle of hooch with a lighter at the ready. The Blacksmith has a rusty, decrepit minigun that never seems to run out of bullets. The creepy shaman runs around in a gas mask and a tribal stuff that doubles as a cattle prod. Lastly, the preacher stoically bears twin pistols and lays down some fire and brimstone justice like a boss. Battles take place on one of six maps which are each replete with hazards (like barrels of TNT) and interactive elements (namely shooting targets to open gates). There's offline and online modes, but online is done through a clunky GameSpy partnership, and not Game Center.

Warm Gun boasts a unique IP backed by distinctive characters.

Is it any good? Well, I'm not a fan of mobile games that try too hard to be console games to begin with, even if a recognized 3D engine has been shoehorned into the mobile platform. The texture details in Warm Gun are pretty good, but there are a lot of UI elements that feel out of place, like the respawn timer and the player names when hovering the crosshairs over others. The controls could be a big bigger, especially the reload and firing button, but I do like that the fire button lets you adjust aim while shooting nonstop. Warm Gun's strongest suit is its flavour - although it's distinctly within the western genre, the game takes place in a gritty post-apocalypse setting shortly after World War III. Warm Gun will also available on PC, which means there are still a few more levels, characters, and game modes which might make the leap to iPhone at some point.

Death Call

Death Call puts you dab smack into an old-fashioned western manhunt, with a few gadgets to help along the way.

Death Call is more of a classic target range style game with a few tweaks. Enemies pop out from behind cover, and you have to shoot them down before they start shooting at you. The controls are very straightforward: pan the crosshairs with your left thumb, and fire with your right. They've included a really nice implementation of the accelerometer for reloading. Popping your iPhone to one side definitely feels like you're opening up the cylinders of a six-shooter in the heat of a firefight.  There are different types of enemies with varying attributes, but those aren't the only things that pop up on screen. Sometimes there are bombs that you have to destroy by shooting at them (?!) before they blow up, and there are also power ups for cash and health that show up randomly.

Not only are there lots of cool weapons to buy in between rounds, the microtransaction element of Death Call is actually very appealing.

Every level consists of several waves, between which you heal up, and have a chance to buy some more bullets. If you're running low on health, the protagonist has this totally sweet extendo-shield that gives him a few moments of respite to catch his breath - just make sure you pop it when you really need it, because you'll have to weather another minute of bullets before using it again. Every time you kill a bad guy, you get some cash which you can spend on various types of weapons and upgrades. There are also weapon licenses which can be subbed in for cash when buying guns. You get those through standard gameplay, but you can also spend real dollars to acquire them through in-app purchases. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, you can also earn weapon permits by reviewing the game, sharing it on Twitter and Facebook, or through the randomized daily draw. Finally, every level has a little puzzle game, which you play through to get another piece of the ongoing storyline.

I can safely say that I had a lot of fun playing Death Call, even if it isn't quite as aggressive with the steampunk styling as Warm Gun. The shield is pretty cool, and there are some tesla-themed weapons available to unlock, but not until later in the game.

DRAW!

Although Warm Gun has a lot of great graphics, it's hard to appreciate them while wrestling with the controls.

How do the two compete? Well, they both don't do particularly well on the multiplayer front, simply by virtue of there being nearly nobody to play with. Death Call wins by a hair for implementing multiplayer through Game Center and providing some interesting multiplayer-only unlockables and perks. Overall, I had more fun playing Death Call for sheer simplicity of play. I'm sure if Warm Gun tidied up their control scheme, it would feel more natural, but for now it's obvious that it's being built for PC first and foremost, while the iPhone version feels like an afterthought. Not only did Death Call have more fluid shooting action, there was a much wider array of gameplay involved. Many levels in the single player campaign were interspersed with puzzles, and there were a ton of unlockable weapons which could be subsequently be upgraded. The in-app purchasing was also very compelling; you could buy in-game cash with which you could unlock and buy more weapons. There was also the odd opt-in video ad where you could earn some more coin just for sitting through a spiel for another app. One weapon could be unlocked if you convinced a friend to download the game and you get them to give you a code.

The developers, Toy Chest Games and Emotional Robots, are both smaller companies, so I've been willing to cut them a bit of slack on the production values when it comes to graphics. I definitely wasn't expecting anything Infinity Blade-quality when getting into them. That being said, I found Death Call did a better job of punching their weight by going with a simple 2D game and good art direction given the format. Meanwhile, Warm Gun showed more ambition trying to tackle the Unreal Engine for iOS. The gun models and reload animations are really, really good, but it's hard to make out much of the fine character and level detail when moving around. There were also the few interface irregularities I had mentioned earier.

The models in Warm Gun are wonderfully detailed, but it's hard to appreciate them mid-game.

As far as sound goes, Warm Gun has excellent music. Some of the sound effects are a little low-fidelity and repetitive, but overall, I was impressed. Death Call doesn't fare quite as well on audio. There are cutscenes between each level explaining a long, winding plotline, and though the dialogue is purposefully cheesy, it's also painfully cheesy. The quality of the voice recordings weren't particularly great; it sounded like it was just the devs using their iPhones to record dialogue. During gameplay, enemies in Death Call make this really gross, wet sound as their various entrails hit the ground. Not  particularly appetizing hearing that time and again - bring on the Wilhelm screams instead.

The Conclusion

If I had to give it to one or the other, I would side with Death Call. Not only is it free (versus $1.99 for Warm Gun), the gameplay is much smoother, and the progression with unlockables is way more rewarding. Warm Gun definitely gets points for creativity, both in terms of level design and setting. There is also a lot of potential in working with the Unreal Engine, but for now its performance is stunted by cumbersome controls.

$1.99 - [Download Warm Gun Now]

Free - [Download Death Call Now]

When I saw John Carmack show off Rage on the iPhone a few months back, I was rather excited. The promise of real console-like graphics were in our grasp. Then, the game finally came out and I was initially blown away, but then...

Rage HD on iPad is set in a post-apocalyptic future. Typical of these types of games where you play a contestant out to earn money by defeating mutants. The game is set in a first-person shooter (FPS) perspective, but it is on rails. This means the game "moves" for you and you are only allowed to maneuver the cursor on screen at any given time. This is okay, as the games visuals are amazing and this style of game worked really well for Doom Resurrection on iPhone.

The screen is comprised of only a few buttons. The left side is meant solely to move the cursor, target enemies, etc. The right side has the action button (to shoot and pick up items like health, ammo, etc), dodge button (the enemy throws bricks at you), reload weapon and select weapon. If the touch screen modality does not work for you, there is a tilt option as well as lefty mode and other configurable choices such as inverted axis and more.

As you start a level, you immediately notice there are several bulls-eyes scattered among the levels. By shooting them, you increase your score. As enemy mutants appear, you target and shoot them. You can often get a one-shot fill if you time your shots appropriately; you get a special reticule when you in the correct area to pull it off.

As you maneuver your cursor around the screen trying to take out bulls-eyes and mutants, you will notice you can also pick up money, health and ammo bonuses; your cursor turns into a green hand. The ammo comes in particularly handy as I found I ran out of ammo a little too fast. The good news is that you have a pistol with unlimited ammo, but takes forever to reload. However, I have played entire levels with just the pistol with no problem. The additional weapons that you can find ammo for are the shotgun and automatic weapon.

The games graphics are really, really good. I mean, really good. It is a testament to iOS's capabilities. No slowdown, plenty of particles flying at you and a ton of action. But this is where the problems begin for this game. It's gorgeous. But that is all it's got. You only have three levels of play, you fight the same enemies over and over. Rage HD is literally a $2.00 technology demo. It wouldn't be so bad (since the game is clearly score based) if you had Game Center support to see where you rank on the leaderboards and add some challenges with achievements. Alas, none of these options exist.

I am impressed with id's effort in this title to bring an amazing console experience to our beloved iOS devices. I am not impressed with the paltry three stages and lack of Game Center support. Should you get this game? It's hard to tell. It is only $2.00, and will hardly break the bank. You will enjoy it till you beat the three levels and you will be left with the insatiable need for more. I am happy to have played it, but after 30 minutes (that is how long it takes to beat all of the levels) you are left with a very, very, very empty feeling.

[$1.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Amazing graphics
• Fun to play
• Varying levels of difficulty
• Different versions of the game for newer/older hardware
• Universal app for iPhone/iPad

Cons

• Only three levels
• Only two types of enemies (really only one type if you want to get picky)
• You are playing for what amounts to a tech demo
• No Game Center support (missing leader boards, achievements, etc)

Do you like old-school shooters? If so, Dodonpachi Resurrection is the game for you! Cave has brought out another awesome shooter on the iPhone (the first being Espgaluda II).

There are two game modes in DoDonPachi. The first is iPhone mode which is a great way to jump in and play. It uses a hit variable to determine the strength of your weapons (the slider is indicated in the top right) and has an interactive hypermode to unleash the ultimate destruction on your enemies. The other mode is Arcade. This mode has you pick the fighter style you want and requires a bit more strategy while playing since you don't have the freedom you have in iPhone mode. You can also configure how much screen is displayed while playing (I am partial to large so I see as much of the screen as I can) as well as button placement for attacking enemy ships.

You start the game as you do in any shooter of this type as a lonesome ship against an onslaught enemy armada bent on destruction. Fortunately, you have technology on your side and you are packing enough firepower to send the enemy back where they came from. One of the things I like about iPhone mode is that when you die, you automatically drop a bomb and become invincible for a short while. Little details like this make the game more accessible to the casual shooter fan. However, Arcade mode is where it's at if you need a true challenge. Of course the OpenFeint integration keeps it old school allowing you to compete with friends and strangers for the highest score possible.

I was looking forward to this game's release and especially having the sharp graphics that are in on the iPhone 4's retina display. Sadly, this is not the case. So as awesome as this game is, it ends up being a tad fuzzy on the iPhone 4 but looks great on the latest generation of iPod Touch devices and iPhone 3GS. Make no mistake that the graphics are great and there is no slowdown. All of the ships and terrain have tons of detail and move effortlessly around the screen.

I can't recommend this game enough for shooter fans. It is hands down the best offering in the App Store. I am hopeful that Cave will create iPad specific versions of their games for the masses to take advantage of the full screen real estate that device has to offer. For now, you can't go wrong with this title. I am still giddy about it.

[$8.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• More bullets than you can shake a stick at!
• OpenFient leaderboards and achievements
• Works great on iPad. Looks awesome!
• Fun and frantic
• No noticeable slow-down

Cons

• No retina support
• Only works well on current-gen devices
• Larger file size (around 500MB)

Let me start off by saying if you are a fan of side scrolling shooters or zombies, spend the money and buy this game now. Zombieville USA [iTunes Link] is my new favorite iPhone game available in all of the App Store.

As the lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse, it’s up to you to battle legions of the undead in a never ending fight for survival! How long can you hold out? Scrounge for cash and ammunition, and buy up to 15 upgradeable weapons as your inevitable doom closes in around you…

Zombieville USA has two simple objectives: shoot zombies and stay alive. Your weapons and ammo are in short supply so using them at the appropriate time is critical. As you progress thru the levels you can jump into houses that will supply you with cash and ammo as well as keep you protected from the zombies. At the end of each level you can use the cash you've pick up to upgrade weapons and refresh your health.

While Zombieville USA is not without some quirky bugs, the developer promises to have them addressed in it's first update, which is due out next week. This game is on sale and can be purchased right now for only $.99! The sale ends next week when the update is released so be sure not to let this one pass you by.

So again, if you are a side scrolling shooter fan or just love zombies and have a fantasy you are Bruce Campbell kicking some zombie butt in Evil Dead 2... minus the chainsaw, this is your game.

Wait, there is a chainsaw... "Groovy..."