Virus War
By Paul Semel,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Fun yet simplistic all-ages arcade-style shooting game.
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Virus War
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What’s It About?
In VIRUS WAR, you have to destroy some virus before some unknown result happens. In fact, it would be hard to tell that the creatures you're fighting are actually viruses if the game wasn't called Virus War. It might seem like the creatures were aliens from the planet Numericon since they look like spaceships. Except they have numbers on them; numbers, oddly, that tell you how many shots they can take before they explode. Which doesn't sound tactically sound, but then doesn't sound like any viruses we've heard of, either. The more you can blast these creatures, the more you earn coins, which can be used to power up spaceships and gain new ones.
Is It Any Good?
While it has a couple annoying issues, and would be more fun on a console or computer or really anything with a real controller, this arcade-style shooter is still a lot of fun. In Virus War, you have to shoot some viruses. Or so we assume because of the name; this doesn't have anything that really explains what you're doing or why. It also doesn't explain why the viruses have numbers on them that indicate how many more shots they can take before they pop. No matter -- this is all about the shootin', and the shootin' is good. While the viruses may not shoot back, they will surround you, and overwhelm you, just through sheer numbers. Good thing there's plenty of opportunities to upgrade your weapons and pick up weapon-enhancing boosts mid-battle.
Virus War also benefits from having smooth controls, though it's hard not to imagine how much better this would be with a real controller. It could also use some more options as well, not just in the realm of difficulty (this is a little on the easy side), but also where the sound is concerned, since this doesn't let you turn off the game's terrible music without killing the sound effects as well. You also can't pause the game; lifting your finger off the screen merely slows things down a lot, leaving you in danger of being destroyed if you're not paying attention. But these are just minor infractions, slight annoyances that don't ruin the engaging and frantically-fun old school shooter immunologists will one day called Virus War.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about advertising. While you can get coins by watching ads in Virus War, you can also earn them by playing, so does it make sense to watch ads for coins you can just get by playing? Does it make you feel differently about this game that it's always asking you to watch an ad?
Why is it vital to have controls that work well during a game? Can a game still be fun if it has bad controls, or does it ruin the experience?
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPad , Android
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: July 12, 2019
- Category: Arcade Games
- Publisher: Kunpo
- Version: 4.3.3
- Minimum software requirements: Requires iOS 10.0 or later; Android 4.1 and up
- Last updated: July 12, 2019
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