Critical Strike Review

Ready. Aim… Fire!

In Superpub Game’s Critical Strike—FPS Shooting Game, you play as a counterterrorist agent tasked with killing numerous terrorists over a variety of levels. In this FPS action game, you hide behind various obstacles, waiting for the perfect opportunity to come out of hiding and shoot the bad guys. It’s a bit simplistic, and unfortunately not implemented successfully. Not only is the combat simple, but the AI in Critical Strike is slow and dumb.

Game Mechanics

Aiming is easy in Critical Strike; you simply tap and hold on the screen, then drag your finger around to aim your weapon. Unfortunately, there are no options under settings for you to disable aim assistance and make the game more challenging. Also, be weary of enemies when they fire their weapons, as their bullets deal a lot of damage. You will know when they are firing at you, a red circle above their heads ticks down to zero. When it disappears, they fire their gun. You will also get large red indicators of a blast effect with an exclamation point on the top of the screen. When you see this, you need to swipe on the screen to dodge the grenade.

In terms of the terrorists taking damage, the game is a little wonky on that. It takes multiple headshots to take down one enemy, and even more if you aim anywhere else. While the title provides a variety of enemy types, like those with shields, unfortunately, Critical Strike remains a bit too easy. I didn’t find myself in too much trouble in all 35 levels. There are boss fights scattered in-between a few levels, which adds a small measure of variety. Critical Strike uses an energy system to play levels. You have a maximum of 30 energy, with each level costing two to play. You can also complete tasks to get rewards, collect bonuses, and, if you want, spend some cash to get rid of ads or buy in-game currency.

Sidenote: If you’re into FPSs, check out the Video Game FPS Calculator, used to calculate which FPSs you can play on your platform of choice.

Character Upgrades

On the main menu, you can use some of the coins you earn from completing levels to upgrade your stats. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see two buttons: an attack button and an HP button. You can use these to increase the damage your guns deal as well as boost your maximum health. You’ll also see the current level of your attack and health below these buttons. Invest in these upgrades, and it will pay off in the second half of the game.

Sweet, Sweet Ads?

Critical Strike has a lot of ads, which is typical of a free to play game. However, the ads can really come in handy, as they can double your daily bonus, like getting more coins or gems, or give you more coins earned after completing each level. At the beginning of each level, you can watch an ad to get a rare gun. In addition, you can watch another ad just before the level starts to get boosters like infinite ammo or a 15 second shield.

After a while the ads become annoying; the game places too heavy an emphasis on them. Every time you want to collect coins, either from daily bonuses or tasks, the option to watch an ad to triple the value pops up first, with a regular collect button appearing afterward. It gets pretty irritating. There is an in-app purchase to remove ads, however. The game also offers a reward system that gives you gems to put in a piggy bank after completing each level, though you have to spend real money to get said gems.

Critical Strike is a very casual, easy game, even though the terrorists deal significant damage to you. The rewards and bonuses offered are welcome and can motivate someone to keep playing, but the lack of levels makes this mechanic fall a bit flat. The fact that it’s so easy to aim your weapon and then dispatch the terrorists, all without lifting your finger off the screen, makes the game suffer quite a bit. If the game had buttons to aim and fire your weapon, it would be much more hardcore. As it is, the AI is inept; it’s riddled with IAPs and it’s far too easy for us to recommend.