Etolis: Arena is a amazing looking upcoming dual stick shooter (DSS) that we here at AppTapper got to preview. We were blown away with the attention to detail and the high level of content made available to us in this early build. Read more in our in-depth preview.



Late last month we recieved the privilage of trying out Facet Studios' new upcoming
shooter, 'Etolis: Arena'. Being partial to anything dual-sticky I instantly began playing through every feature made available to us in the early build. The game revolves around you, a UFA (The United Front Alliance) Soldier turned prisoner, who is thrust into an arena forced to fight for your life, for entertainment of her Majesty's magnificent forces. Lots of background information is already provided to you in order to understand what is going on and why you are forced to fight for your life. Below is an excerpt from the UFA Databank.


It all started in 2483 when the planet state of Kraven attacked the neighboring planet state of Etolis.. The Kraven led by their Queen Natus, had been involved in skirmishes and relatively minor attacks on outlying zones but came relatively swiftly to Etolis in full force. The UFA, unable to respond quick enough, relied upon the existing minor ground force to hold off the attackers for as long as possible so the government and as many civilians as possible could escape. Their [Kraven] initial bombardment struck at spaceports as well as decimating the shipping and military fleets. It appears that the desire of the Kraven were to trap the Etolians on the planet in the inital attack.


Etolis focuses more on the dual stick survival shooter sub-genre. It takes aspects from story driven DSS's like Revolt, and survival type gameplay like Minigore, and combines it to make the perfect shooter cocktail. Upon playing the game, you will first notice (if you happen to have an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4g) the crisp and highly detailed retina enhanced UI, maps, and characters. The game boasts 7 types of enemies and 5 maps that you must face off against and on while playing: Drones, Spiders (Robotic Spiders), Hurion Beasts, Enlisted Troopers, Veterans, Sisters, and Primes. The maps include Spacecab Port, Periv Reactor, Research Outpost, Dig Site, and Secret Cavern. All of which can be played on 1 of 3 difficulties; Normal, Seasoned, and Elite, using either dual sticks, or an Auto-Aim control method (Note: Auto-Aim is not available on the Elite difficulty). Having chosen the map, you can choose what game type you want to play. There are 4 game types:

Classic Survival: Classic Survival throws you into a series of infinite rounds, containing 3 waves each.

Dronez: Dronez pits you against a 1 round match containing endless waves of drones while arming you with infinite small arms ammunition,

Rockets: Rockets deploys you against a 1 round, 5 wave battle with infinte ammution for your rocket launcher.

Hammers: Hammers see you in a 1 round, 5 wave battle with your trusty big ass hammer (Proton Axe).

After each round, in a select few of the game modes, you have the chance to purchase different weapons using the Honor you collected during the round. There are 5 available weapons for purchase, and include the S6 Shotgun, the Fuze Rifle, the Ion Penetrator, the B2 Rocket L, and the Proton Axe (the aforementioned "trusty big ass hammer") Also available are a thermal blast grenade, mines, extra ammo capacity for the Fuze Rifle, the Ion Penetrator, B2 Rocket L, and Proton Axe.

The upgrade shop

Check out the gameplay video below. Keep in mind that the choppy framerate you are witnessing is not caused by the game. Rather the recording program we used.


Needless to say, we are very eager to see the future updates and additions the team over at Facet Studios adds to the coming builds. Expect to see Etolis: Arena available in the AppStore in the coming weeks.