It’s 2077, and another alien race, the Barukans, want to invade Earth for its plentiful resources (raise your hands if you think we’ll still have plentiful resources by then). Being that we are territorial creatures, we of course rise to defend our planet against this new extraterrestrial threat by using the Starship, a science crystal of Earth that apparently uses three types of weapons and four types of spaceships to fight. There are three modes you can play in: Training, Normal, and Hard.

After choosing the game mode, the Starship is lined up against the right side of the screen, with the choice of weapons above the spaceships (which are manufactured in the Factory). Also displayed are your points, your HP (on the bottom), the timer (which counts down), and how much money you’ve obtained from killing the Barukans. The enemy flies in from the left side of the screen; each different alien ship flies at a different speed and needs a set amount of strikes in order to obliterate. Your HP lowers when the alien’s spaceships hit the Starship, and of course, their speed increases as you pass more levels.

Both Earth’s weapons and spaceships need to be purchased, as well as all their level-ups and restoring your HP; this shopping can be done between levels. Unfortunately, there is only a set amount of alien ships per timed level, so spend wisely. Each weapon can be discharged only a certain amount of times before you need to reload (by tapping that weapon button), which takes precious seconds while the aliens fly closer. How to kill the enemy? Choose a weapon (the first one, what looks like lightning, is the default) and then tap an alien spaceship as it flies in; if your tap is accurate, it will be struck. Inaccuracies mean wasted shots.

The background music, while suitable for such an epic storyline, is just the same few measures in a loop—boring, but forgivable. The graphics are good, especially concerning the weapons blasts. The spaceships and debris are really too small to be anything but pixelated. The reasoning behind this defense game app is clear, yet the instructions trying to explain how to play this game or utilize its tools isn’t. There will be time (and HP) wasted trying to figure out all the clever little intricacies that the developer neglected to clarify. And it is a clever little game, just with somewhat flawed execution (i.e., please please please have someone proofread!).

Here is a video demo of the Starship Defense app on the iPhone

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore. Browse the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category.