Super Iron Heroes Fighting

The game is a very action-packed design inspired by the recent influx of Robotron-inspired "move in one direction, shoot in another" blasters.

Players move Super Iron Heroes Fighting using the D-pad of the DS, and shoot in 360 fashion by sliding the stylus around on the touch-screen.

Yes, lefties have their own option as well.

Missions challenge players to blast away at all sorts of enemies – tanks, helicopters, turrets, missile launchers, vehicles –

and avoid getting shot by zipping around as quickly as possible.

Unlike the console versions, the DS divides Iron's time Man between in-air missions and on-foot missions.

Both have the same basic control and gameplay structure, but they do feel slightly different –

airborne missions are much more fast-paced than the on-foot ones.

Though levels have very specific tasks to complete, you're encouraged to blast everything you see –

the game rewards being gun happy with points that can be used to upgrade your character.

the game a real pushover in the early missions with wimpy blasters and shields,

and the game doesn't really start to get decent until you utilize some of your points for suit enhancements.

Super Iron Heroes Fighting definitely has the start of something good – it almost feels like an updated,

more intense version of Electronic' classic Strike.

But it suffers from "This game would be better if…" syndrome.

There are so many places in the game where you'll be wishing that the game had very basic and expected items.

The biggest culprit is the camera – it follows the action from a very specific height and distance away from your character,

but it's way too close. Enemies will constantly attack from off-screen which is incredibly cheap,

and you're never given fair warning when a tank or helicopter sneaks up from out of view.

The lower screen doesn't even display a radar view of the immediate area outside of specific objective items.

You can't imagine the game being this blind.

That leads into the other biggie: you're expected to fly around these huge environments and take out specific buildings,

but you don't have a map of the area. Not even the touch screen provides a pull-out view.