A reader suggested a rather interesting Windows Phone game the other day, Twitter Hunter. It is a Windows Phone 7 game that pits you against a rather disruptive flock of birds.
The game is fast paced in that you are presented with a scene (power lines, tree limbs, clothes lines, etc.) where the pesky birds will appear. A countdown timer is displayed on each bird and when it reaches zero, the screen shakes, you loose a life and the bird flies off.
Your job is simply, blast them off the screen by tapping on them before the timer reaches zero. The quicker you take out the birds, the more points you earn.
More after the break.
Blast 'em
To help you deal with the birds, you are armed with a virtual shotgun that has a four shot capacity. Once you empty your shotgun, you reload by shaking your Windows Phone. There are bonus items available that will increase your shotgun's capacity or temporarily replace it with a machine gun.
Twitter Hunter is a fun, challenging game. It's difficult enough to hold the phone and tap all over the screen but add having to shake the phone every four taps to reload (as well as remembering to reload), it can be a little nerve racking. I would have preferred some other means to reload your shotgun because the shaking of the phone can get a little frustrating and takes away from the game.
Graphics are nice but they need to be animated. The cartoon stills of the birds offer a wide range of expressions but really need to come to life. I would have liked to have seen the birds fly in and off the screen than simply fade in/out. Even if they simply popped up like a carnival game would have been better. Stability wise, Twitter Hunter ran smoothly with no crashes, bugs or glitches experienced.
Overall Impression
Overall, Twitter Hunter is a decent game for your Windows Phone. It will definitely test your speed and multi-tasking abilities. Personally, I think the game needs a little more animation and a tad slower pace. It moves so fast that at times it felt as if the game was over before it began. It's a middle of the road game so I'd take full advantage of the trial version to give it a test drive.
The full version will run you $.99 and you can find Twitter Hunter here (opens Zune) at the Marketplace.
Update: Twitter Hunter has been updated recently to add a few more bonus weapons, a touch more animation and some under the hood performance enhancements. With the update, Twitter Hunter is moving in the right direction. I'd still take advantage of the trial version first.
