The iPhone Games category app Fastar! calls itself an “action RPG” like gamers might recognize from computers and consoles, but it really isn’t complex enough to claim the title. It’s not without charm, though.
The game amounts to tapping rapidly to kill enemies (they’re literally squares of varying sizes and colors), and gathering money from the destroyed enemies to spend on attack, defense and health. Fastar! would be too thin to be worth even its 99-cent asking price if it didn’t have a variety of game modes that make it a more interesting play.
As far as controls, you tilt the iPhone to the right to make your side-scrolling character travel in that direction, and left to travel left. Fighting, which occurs every few steps, amounts to tilting back and forth to avoid attacks and get close enough to use a sword on the offending square enemy. Tapping the screen swings the sword.
Every once in a while, you’ll come upon a town where you can spend the money you’ve accumulated to make your character better. You also can choose a form of magic at the outset of the game to use on enemies, like fire or lightning.
The true coolness of Fastar!, however, are the many leaderboards and game modes. One has you collecting as much money as possible; another ramps difficulty up; another series just has you fighting certain square types.
All of these are engaging only because Fastar! puts your score up against other players on the network, and competing keeps the game interesting.
