SketchWars is quite clearly an Asteroids clone, but as mentioned in the teaser the original has been completely re-interpreted. You are no longer navigating a spaceship, trying to dodge asteroids and UFOs—you are now controlling what is basically the tip of a fountain pen.
The setting has also changed: a sketch pad has replaced outer space. The goal is to evade and/or gun down a varied cast of enemies. Once an opponent has been taken down he leaves either a blob of ink or a squiggly line behind.
To make sure that your enemies don’t rise from the ashes you have to be sure to white out the ink stains with Tipp-Ex (Wite-Out) and rub out the lines with an eraser. You’ll find both the Tipp-Ex and eraser in the upper part of the screen and can access them easily from there.
Opponents will just keep pouring on to your sketch pad, so you have to be pretty crafty at avoiding them, shooting them, whiting them out, and erasing them. You have only three lives; if an enemy manages to touch you or the tip of the fountain pen slips from the sketch pad you lose one of them.
The game is all about staying alive as long as possible whilst collecting as many points as possible. You receive points every time you shoot an enemy as well as by collecting the ink stains left behind by vanquished opponents. Some ink stains give you Power-Ups so that you get more ammunition or an extra life.
As you can see in the video, the visual design is pretty awesome, and the soundtrack isn’t bad either.
It’s been a while since I last doled out a five star rating, but SketchWars definitely deserves it. The developers have really managed to make the Asteroids gameplay relevant and contemporary.
Neo
Feb 8, 2011 5:55:08 PM
innovative design of gameplay
Augustine
Jan 2, 2011 6:29:30 AM
It is buggy. Does not run smoothly, and will crash beyond 30 sec. Played this on the Samsung Vibrant.
Trong
Dec 28, 2010 1:34:51 AM
Great graphics but stutters even on my Droid X
JRJalapeno
Sep 20, 2010 11:50:06 AM
Cool game..needs joystick for shooting and it will ne a 5 star app. Nice option to disable dragging of the bandaid but other controls get frozen
Alster
Sep 19, 2010 12:45:40 AM
Nice doodle arcade shooter with a minor flaw. Full review at MeAndMyDroid dot com.
dave
Sep 11, 2010 9:05:05 PM
It's great...but controls for the eraser get a little hairy sometimes. Developer responds, which is great!
dave
Aug 30, 2010 1:59:50 AM
Love it very addictive. As others have said difficult to use tippex and rubber. Wish we could choose where its placed on the screen.
scott
Aug 29, 2010 12:49:35 AM
Needs dual touch stick controls.
Daniel
Aug 24, 2010 4:50:07 PM
Hard to control. Enemies are small and get covered over by your finger as you shoot around even on a big screen. CM6 - Evo 4G
twon
Aug 18, 2010 7:18:03 PM
Great game!