Shadowgun Legends

This first-person shooter manages to bring a console-worthy experience to phones and tablets. Shadowgun Legends packs all the action of a triple-A first-person shooter into a bite-sized, free-to-play experience, complete with all the usual trappings of the genre: story, co-op, and competitive gameplay. The game is a solid addition to the genre, with sharp visuals, intuitive controls, and a focus on fun, friendly (and sometimes, not-so-friendly) competition. But as good as it can be most of the time, there are still some spots where the game misses its target.

One of the first things shooter fans will have to adjust to is the game's default use of auto-fire. Simply aiming over an enemy unleashes a hail of gunfire at your foes, which can make things awkward when trying to aim for critical targets and those oh-so-valuable headshots. Early on, this makes the game almost too easy, though that quickly fades when the difficulty ramps up and enemies start doing major damage. This can be turned off in the options, but without it, the shooting winds up becoming a bit of a mess. Another issue with Shadowgun Legends: Some odd network problems. When everything's working, the game runs almost flawlessly. But frustrating issues include some bad lag in some multiplayer matches, rewards not appearing in your inventory, and other random quirks of online play. But the game's biggest issue has to be with how it handles its free-to-play structure. While many items you can buy are simple cosmetic additions, others feel like they're necessities to enjoy the game. For example, players start with an extremely limited inventory, a major handicap in a loot-driven game like Shadowgun Legends. This can be substantially expanded with your first purchase from the in-game store, but between that and the availability of more powerful armor and weapons for real-world cash, it's hard not to feel like the game is angling for more of a pay-to-win experience.