Commando Jack

APP OF THE WEEK:9 cert, Chillingo, iPad (also iPhone, iPod Touch) ****

Human-alien relations have never been the most diplomatic in game land, leaning more towards the General Custer rule of negotiations than, say, Kofi Annan. Commando Jack maintains the mindset of shoot first ask questions later (if ever). Satisfyingly mixing a number of genres, Commando Jack is a cross between real-time strategy, tower-defence and a first-person shooter. Once you place your automated weapons on the battlefield, switch to shooter mode to take out the aliens personally. It’s a more aggressive descendent of the classic app game Plants vs Zombies, and the B-movie theremin music suggests a similarly playful tone.Your opponents are an array of alien bugs, slugs and angry spacemen with Roswell-esque giant heads; your weapons can be tailored accordingly. Laser cannons take out armoured vehicles, for example. Maybe it overestimates how much you like the sound of rattling gunfire, and this writer has never been a fan of micro- transactions, but overall Commando Jack is a fast, amusing and very playable app game.