So, what you going to do? After having your girlfriend kidnapped by green aliens you jump into your own space ship only to be confronted by wave upon wave of ships.

Beat da Beat from Nekki has a simple premise and intuitive gameplay. Normally I’m not a great fan of games which go for an 8-bit retro look, but in the case of Beat da Beat this seems to work in its favour, bringing back memories of playing Galaxian and the various sci-fi themed mobile shooter arcade style games which followed it.

As the main protagonist you steer your ship through wave upon wave of alien ships which fire increasing amounts of ordinance at you. Not that you are without your own teeth and shooting down the opposition rewards you with boxes. Open a box and you may find hearts, which are akin to lives; there are also various defensive and offensive upgrades to pick up. Destroying enemy ships also rewards you with the game's currency, gold coins.

The game has progressive levels, each harder than the last. The only realistic way to progress is to get to the end of the previous level having beaten its boss. Progression allows you to change, adapt and upgrade your ship to counter the increasing difficulty.

In practice the game is very easy to pick up, mostly because it holds great similarities to other games in this genre. The name relates to the pounding Dubstep tracks which accompanies the gameplay. Even if you don’t like the music it’s still an enjoyable game with the sound turned off, but you will miss the aliens firing at you in time to the beat and the addition of audio clues.

The game comes with four difficulty levels and, with little in the way of health regeneration within each stage, you’re going to be very grateful to any upgrades your able to lay your hands on.

Although there is little originality on show, the game is well executed and increasingly addictive.

7

Charles Packer