Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a side-story in the expansive narrative of the Mass Effect universe. You play as Randall Enzo. Randall is employed by Cerberus, a pro-human organization in the Mass Effect universe, to hunt down and capture aliens for experiments at a secret Cerberus facility. When the Director of the facility goes too far and starts performing experiments on other Cerberus employees, Randall vows to bring down Cerberus.
Developed by IronMonkey Studio, the team behind the critically acclaimed Dead Space iOS game, Infiltrator is unlike the console entries in the Mass Effect series. Instead of a RPG, Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a cover-based shooter. Infiltrator implores a control scheme that works to the strengths of Apple’s iDevices. You move Randall with your left thumb and control the camera with your right thumb. You shoot at enemies by pressing on a blue reticle over them and can switch between different weapons and biotic powers on the fly. These controls are both easy to use and allow players to fluidly chain together kills. After each battle, you gain credits and can collect intel from fallen enemies. You can use credits to buy new weapons, abilities, biotic powers and armour or upgrade the weapons, abilities, biotic powers and armour you already have. You can use the intel to boost your Galactic Readiness Rating, which affects Mass Effect 3’s ending, or trade it in for credits. Other than the fluid controls and combat, Mass Effect: Infiltrator’s strength is its incredibly fluid frame rate. The game only crashed once or twice and that was my fault as I had over a dozen apps running in the background.
The campaign will take about 6 hours as you complete all 9 levels in the game, which includes two boss fights. For those looking to get the best rating at each checkpoint or to boost their Galactic Readiness Rating, Infiltrator offers tons of replay value as you find new more efficient ways to dispatch enemies. If you are not into that stuff, Infiltrator will not hold you long after completing the campaign even with the New Game+ option. Infiltrator is great to play in short bursts while waiting for the bus or sitting in the back seat of the car, but will get very repetitive if you play for hours at a time. When the battles get a little too hectic or up-close and personal, the controls can sometimes get in the way of making fast precise decisions, which can get a little frustrating when the controls get in the way of dispatching a lethal shotgun-wielding krogan. While the stories in iOS games are never that strong, you expect a little more from a game set in the narrative-heavy universe of Mass Effect. Other than a look into the atrocities that Cerberus commits, Infiltrator’s story does not add much to the Mass Effect universe as a whole. Also the paragon and renegade decisions in the game are completely pointless as they don’t do anything to affect the game’s story like in the main entries in the series.
For 7 dollars, Mass Effect: Infiltrator might be a steep price for those not already invested in the Mass Effect universe. For those that can look past the price point, Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a good iOS game that offers a great control scheme which perfectly works around the limitations of the iOS’ touch controls, a fluid frame rate and a good amount of replay value. While not a must-own for iDevice owners, Mass Effect: Infiltrator is a good time sink for those looking for a solid third-person shooter for their iDevice.
