Hidden Gem: ZIXXBY! arcade shooter game with serious eye candy

ZIXXBY! by Honey Badger Studios is a great arcade shooter game where you control your little alien character who is flying in his spaceship, or flying saucer to be more accurate. You will be helping ZIXXBY free his home planet's moons which seem to be taken over by other aliens.

Using a blend of accelerometer controls and flick gestures for shooting, this game can really get into some fast paced gameplay. Not to be one to get old, there are different types of stages where, instead of just shooting everything, you'll have to accomplish certain objectives. Carnage stage has you blasting as many aliens as you can while Marksman type stages have you hone your aiming skills while you fly your little saucer.

Each moon has ten stages for you to complete after which you've saved that particular moon. You will be dealing with all the different types of stages but you will have some different weapons to help you out along the way. The mini-nuke weapon is especially enjoyable for those who like blowing stuff up on a more mass proportion.

Features:

• Campaign of 40 stunning levels across 4 different moons!
• Level Types: Pot Shot, Mini Nuke, Mine Sweep, Carnage, Skill Shot, Marksman and Snake!
• Bonkers Weapons: Sniper bullet, Mini Nuke, Bouncing Bullet, Comet buster and Pellet Cannon!
• Intelligent Zoom camera
• Thousands of mines to smash up!
• A variety of enemies to fight!
• Sensor controlled movement! (Accelerometer)
• Gesture controlled weapon systems!
• Weapon pickups!
• Awesome explosions!

The graphics in ZIXXBY! are very well done and even borderline on beautiful for those of you who enjoy eye candy. The scenery is highly detailed, the animations are smooth and the whole game just looks really nice.

One thing to note is that this is 'Game 1' which either hints at more levels to come or that a 'Game 2' or sequel is already under development. There are some updates with more content planned for ZIXXBY! such as mini-games and OpenFeint integration. Whether this translates into 'Game 2' or comes as a separate download game on the Android Market remains to be seen.

Amazingly enough, ZIXXBY! has been out for a month exactly today and the free version you can try out (and use in-game purchases to open new areas and weapons) has only received 1000-5000 downloads while the paid version hasn't even broken 50. If you are looking for a new arcade shooter game then you'll want to check this highly overlooked title. You can snag the paid version for $1.61 off the Android Market.

Developer Website: Honey Badger Studios

Android Market Link: ZIXXBY!