Exciting app induces premature Senioritis

For the last few weeks in newspaper, fellow staff members have found me lying on the couches and blindly staring at a phone for up to half of the period. No, I’m not messing around, I’ve been doing “research” for this article by playing Guns of Boom.

The recently released app for Android and iOS provides users with countless hours of fun and also officially marks my step back into the world of video games, which I haven’t played since sophomore year.

Some people have asked me how I found this game. I was scrolling through the App Store in search of a fast-paced, multiplayer online first-person shooter; the first thing that popped up when I searched for this was “Guns of Boom.”

At first, I was skeptical. The images seemed cartoony, and, usually, first-person shooters on phones don’t end up being too great. However, its 4.5/5 star rating on the Google Play Store prompted me to hit the download button.

That was probably both the best and worst decision of my year so far. On the bright side, the game turned out to be fantastic. On the other hand, it also proved to be very distracting and has furthered worsened my already problematic time management skills. Worst of all, it uses up all my screentime. (My mom has installed an app that limits my daily time on the phone to two hours.) In fact, one day I spent my allotted amount of my screentime on “Guns of Boom,” leaving me unable to use the GPS app to get home.

The game features an online shooter experience different from any other due to its consistently solid frame rate and easy controls. Unlike most mobile online FPS’s, “Guns of Boom” manages to run at a smooth frame rate even when connected to a poor source of internet. Furthermore, the controls are easy to master and are intuitive, which is nice considering most other mobile FPS’s have my fingers darting all across the screen in positions I never knew were possible.

The game also offers numerous weapons, maps, modes and lots of customizability for your personal soldier. It also has stunning graphics, possibly the best I’ve seen on a mobile game. It’s not very bloody or gory either, making it OK for most most younger players.

Without doubt, my time with “Guns of Boom” has been fantastic, but I recently decided to delete the app until first semester is over. Fortunately, I’ll be back online in a month or so and am hoping to see more SHS students online as well.