Sometimes a game comes along that you love and hate at the same time. Haunted Cemetery from Big Smash Studios is one of those games. Now I don’t really hate it for bad reasons, I hate it because the slightest error on my part will turn into a loss of bonus points. Everyone hates that right? But that’s part of what makes this game fun.

 Haunted Cemetery puts you through ten levels of divebombing vampire bats, rattling skeletons, web-weaving spiders and shambling zombies. Your task is to blast them all to kingdom come or die trying. At first you’ve only got your trusty pistol but along the way you can pick up a shotgun and some shells for a bigger blast and a flashlight to help aid your accuracy with the pistol. Basically that means less bullets per kill which is a good thing when you have a row of undead extending their cold fingers toward your throat.

Speaking of all those things, the developers did a great job in the art department. No Surprise considering Gary Cox, the driving force behind the game, is in fact an artist. I like the cohesiveness of the whole presentation from the menus all the way through to the end. Very well done! Yes, the sound is very good as well. Nothing spectacular, but it’s an undead shooting game.

It’s probably your racing pulse that’s attracting those undead because, while this game is simple in design, it is difficult to master. Big Smash Studios put in three levels of difficulty. I started on Medium because..pfft, who wants to play on Easy right? That went well enough the first time round. I didn’t quite finish the ten levels but I got a decent score. So I tested Easy and found it to be a major yawner and went back to Medium.

Using the accelerometer in the iPhone you tilt left and right, up and down to aim. You then have on screen controls for firing, reloading, weapon switching and the flashlight which you can turn off and on to save battery. All of this adds up to a game you simply wouldn’t want to play in public (like on the tram or bus) because people will stare at you like you’re having a nervous breakdown. But that’s fine, let them stare if they must.

Besides, you’ll be far too busy trying not to let the creepy little spiders catch up to you and nip you in the neck to even care. The game is hooked into the Scoreloop system so you can track high scores online, accept and offer challenges and gain Coins for use anywhere in Scoreloop (see my recent feature article about Scoreloop). Each level is only about a minute long so a game will generally be 10-15 minutes total. If you want to challenge me, my username is ChristophorRick

There are only two real gripes I have with the game, First is the sluggishness of the aiming at times. No matter how hard you flick your iPhone one way or the other it just doesn’t move fast enough. This will inevitably mean you’ll miss one of those blasted spiders. Additionally, in regards to replay, there is some thanks to Scoreloop but with only three difficulties and ten levels which are pretty much the same every time, I see not a whole lot in the way of replay value. Yes there are challenges to answer and win etc. through Scoreloop, but I can only see someone doing that so many times until losing interest. Still, Haunted Cemetery is a great distraction and definitely a challenge. Trying to master all the levels to perfection will give you something to do until it’s time to go Trick-or-Treating. This game is definitely a treat.