FlipShip [99�/Lite] from ByteSize Games is a 2D dodge and shoot'em-up game, which at first glance seems to resemble a bunch of other titles, like Tilt to Live [$2.99/Lite/HD], Geometry Wars [99�], Hyperlight [$1.99] and Infinity Field [99�/HD].� However, once you start playing it's immediately apparent that FlipShip features some interesting ideas, adding a strategic element which differentiates it nicely from those other games.

In FlipShip, your craft is maneuvered using tilt controls and automatically fires when an enemy is within range, so there's no fire button. Where it differs from your typical shooter is that the color of your spaceship is important, because you can only destroy enemies the same color as yourself. This is reminiscent of the color-based Japanese shoot'em-up Ikaruga from 2001. For example, if your ship is red, you can destroy any red enemies, but you'd better be careful to avoid the blues.� Over time more and more of the different-color enemies appear, making them increasingly difficult to avoid.

At any time you can tap the screen to "flip" the color of your ship. That's right, the title of this game � FlipShip � actually refers to "flipping the color", not flipping the spaceship over. So now, suddenly your spaceship has turned blue. This means you're now hunting the masses of blue enemies which have built up and avoiding the red ones, basically the exact opposite of before.

At this point, things get a little strategic. You could simply keep changing colors, depending on what's close. But, each time you kill a same-color enemy your combo points are increased, and these combos ramp up pretty quickly, so there's a big incentive to remain one color as long as possible to achieve massive combo points. If you play it safe and change colors, your combo point value is immediately reset. Although, if you wait too long you may get trapped by the growing number of different-color enemies and die. Choosing when to flip becomes a key part of this game.

After you've been playing for a while and destroyed masses of same-color enemies to earn an insane combo-point value, you'll probably expect to have a huge score …BUT…� you won't. �You see, your points don't actually count until you "bank" them, by flipping your color.� If you die without flipping color, you lose all your precious combo-points and score nothing.

This creates a constant strategic dilemma � do you keep hunting the same-color enemies to increase your massive combo-score, or do you feel threatened by the growing number of enemies to avoid, and flip color to safely bank the combo points so they're not at risk?� This simple mechanism elevates this game from a regular arcade shooter into a much more strategic affair.

I'm not a huge fan of tilt controls, but after configuring the tilting in the options, it worked perfectly, allowing the craft to precisely dodge and weave around enemies, squeezing through tight gaps to collect power-ups such as slow-motion, bubble-shield, packs of homing missiles and electrical bursts.

There's three spaceships to choose from, each with different speed, weapon range and a unique special ability which is triggered by tapping the power meter once it's filled by destroying enemies.� There's six levels of difficulty, ranging from 'very easy' to 'insane', each with a Game Center leaderboard, although some users report there's little difference between some of the difficulty levels and no need for so many.

Flipship's neon vector-style graphics are not as flashy, exciting and high-energy as Infinity Field, and there's not a huge amount of variety in the gameplay with just one game mode. However, the strategic color flipping concept works really well, the controls are totally responsive and people are enjoying it in our forums.

The next update will make the game Universal and is already with Apple for release shortly, plus there's a free lite version if you're curious. Playing this game may even tell you something about your own character. How confident and greedy are you � will you gamble for the high score, or flip?

Simply put, Rescue City [Free] is a worthy addition to the line-drawing genre that has long since been dominated by the prowess of Flight Control. Rather than directly mimicking the open-world environment of the flight-landing title, Rescue City succeeds at implementing a more structured approach to vehicle management that not only still requires strategy and management, but also manages to simplify the core gameplay experience. �A tough difficulty curve and a lack of variety in environments are the only significant obstacles that hold Rescue City back.

Rescue City places you in charge of the police, firefighter, and ambulance services for a section of a city. As various incidents pop up, you must dispatch the appropriate emergency services by drawing a route to the location. Each incident has a countdown timer attached to it, and the game ends if you do not respond to the incident in time. In addition, the game also ends if any of your vehicles collide with each other while on the road. �Obviously, the crux of the gameplay becomes effective route management as you will be trying to respond to each incident as fast as possible while preventing any vehicle crashes.

As mentioned above, veterans of Flight Control will feel right at home with the gameplay and control scheme of Rescue City. However, Rescue City has some important gameplay tweaks that lead to a somewhat different experience. For example, the cityscape environment of Rescue City means that your line-drawing escapades will be restricted to the available streets, rather than the unlimited possibilities of sky navigation.

In addition, each service has different dispatch methods and vehicle stats, which add further depth to the game. For example, the ambulance incident begins at the location of need, and your job is to always guide the ambulance back to the hospital. The fire truck, meanwhile, always begins at the station and must be guided to the fire (and is much slower than the other vehicles). The police dispatch is the most interesting element: initial dispatch begins at the police station, but the car can resolve multiple police incidents without needing to return to the station. However, the police car gets its own timer, which must be reset periodically by returning to the station (and yes, the game will end if you don't get your car back in time). The different vehicles are definitely what set Rescue City apart from other line-drawing games, and I think it's a well-done addition to a genre that's characterized as being full of stagnant clones.

Rescue City falters somewhat with its environment variety as well as its tough difficulty curve. Rescue City does do a good job introducing all the core elements in the first few levels, but it seems as if the difficulty gets turned up significantly once the tutorial period is over. Personally, I don't have a problem with the difficulty (in fact, I thought it was a refreshing change of pace), but I imagine that some casual gamers may become quickly frustrated with progression. If you are one of those folks, the easiest way to succeed in Rescue City is to play the mission several times, memorize the locations of the initial emergencies (each level is fixed in that regard), and use the extra time to formulate additional strategies.

One other issue with Rescue City lies in its lack of variety in city settings. The overall game is divided into three cities with different graphic styles. However, within each city, maps get reused several times, which can make the game a bit drab and repetitive. More unique maps within each city would have gone a long way towards fixing this issue. �Also, while Rescue City scores each mission upon completion, it would have been nice if the game provided some sort of ranking system and leaderboard, as this would aid in potential replayability. Currently, once you finish all the missions, you really have no reason to return.

At its heart, even with the nice additions to the gameplay, Rescue City is still a pretty simplistic game (as are most line-drawing titles). As such, gamers looking for a particularly complicated or deep experience probably won't find that here. However, casual gamers looking for a well-done take on the strategic line-drawing game should definitely check out Rescue City � especially since the first fifteen missions are free (the rest of the game can be unlocked as an IAP for $0.99).