Parents' Guide to Afterpulse

Thanks to awkward controls, this is yet another failure at bringing Call of Duty-style shooting action to tablets. In Afterpulse, you engage in a series of online shooting matches against other people, using modern-day weapons and equipment. The game features a good variety of guns and places to unload them, as well as a multifaceted way of upgrading them. It even distinguishes itself from such similar shooters as those in the Call of Duty and Battlefield series by switching the perspective from first to third. Unfortunately, this doesn't help the game overcome its biggest obstacle: awkward controls. By having the area of the screen that controls the camera be right next to the trigger spot, you often shoot when you want to look or look when you want to shoot. Even worse, the camera controls are rather loose, even when adjusted, so you don't just shoot when you want to look, you shoot the ground or the sky when you want to look where you're going. Granted, it does have other control options, but they don't work any better. All of this makes it infuriating when you get shot up by someone who's managed to master these controls and you know you could've taken them down if they were more intuitive. The only saving grace is that your health regenerates quickly and your ammo is unlimited. But even if you do master this game, it only has three rather basic modes online. Had it been playable on a console or PC, Afterpulse would have been a low-rent shooter; on tables, it's a frustrating afterthought.