It’s a bit weird to describe Trigger Fist. It’s not your usual first person shooter, in fact, it’s a third person shooter.

Trigger Fist (Universal: $4.99) 

“Dominate your friends in intense modern day firefights across six unique environments in four multiplayer modes. Scratch your shooter itch on the go with Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and Sacred Goat — a team based scenario with the objective of carrying a disgruntled goat around the battlefield for the maximum amount of time.”

Presentation

The controls are relatively easy, despite the intimidating looking buttons on screen, but we’ll get into that later. When it comes to graphics, I’d say the game looks PS1 graphics equivalent, which is pretty sweet. The game currently has 6 maps, which has the usual environments we’ve come to expect from shooters.

I’d say the level design is above most of the shooters we’ve seen on the AppStore thus far though. One thing that did feel slightly disappointing is the sound. The game itself has no music, and the sound effects feels lacking.

Controls

One of the most noticeable things about Trigger Fist is that there is no vertical aiming. Swiping across the screen rotates you character, and a thumb stick on the bottom left controls your movement. A red button on the button right (although slightly higher than most shooters) lets you shoot. On the bottom are buttons to switch between weapons, throw grenades, or melee hit. As I mentioned above, when you first see a screenshot of the game all these buttons may look intimidating, but when you’re playing it you realize that everything is actually well laid out and is easy to use.

Gameplay

The game is a shooter, and that’s it. It is a shooter that doesn’t try to provide a back story, you simply go in and choose one of the four modes. All the modes have the option to either be played offline as single player (great for getting used to the game), and then there’s multiplayer (via Game Center) to put your skills to the test. So what are the game modes?

There’s free-for-all, team deathmatch, king of the hill, and sacred goat. Normally I would remind you of every mode, but they’re pretty straightforward, I should explain the sacred goat mode. Don’t worry, it’s nothing complicated, it’s just a take on capture the flag that involves you carrying a goat on your back before your opponent kills you for it.

You also have the option to choose from three types of soldiers: scout, gunner, or rifleman. Each one has it’s own unique weapons, and gains experience on it’s own. As you play, you unlock new perks (faster reloading, better radar, etc.) and new weapons. You can also customize each layout for you.

Conclusion

Trigger Fist was a surprise for me. I wasn’t expecting much going into it, and came out with a shooter that is better suited for mobile devices than most shooters on the AppStore right now. It doesn’t have fancy graphics, or anything out of the ordinary, but it just works very smooth.

It’d be nice to see new things come to the game via updates, but as right now, I’d recommend Trigger Fist to anybody who has been looking for a worthwhile shooter that just works on the touchscreen of iOS devices. 8/10