Guns of Boom review - The first essential mobile shooter?

Alright, let's get this out of the way. Guns of Boom has a terrible name. It is one of the worst names I've ever had the misfortune to read during my time writing about mobile video games.

Luckily though, the game underneath the name is, quite frankly, spectacular.

This is a team-based FPS with gorgeous cartoon graphics that fizzes and pops in some of the best ways possible. It's improbably slick, super fast, and offers the sort of quick-blast shooting action that mobile has been sorely missing.

If you're a fan of competitive multiplayer shooters then you don't really need to read the rest of this review. Just head over to the App Store right now and get the game downloaded. Seriously, it's that good.

Battles are 4v4 skirmishes, set across an impressive array of maps. You team up, you run around, and you try and pump the other team full of bullets. The team with the most points at the end of five minutes is crowned the winner.

From there you'll get some rewards, maybe finish a quest or level up, and then jump back into the action to try and get your numbers ever higher. There are guns to unlock, lumps of armour to strap on, and gold galore to earn.

The controls are slick and simple. You move a finger around the left of the screen to walk, and one around the right of the screen to move your aim. When your crosshair settles on an enemy, you'll fire automatically.

There are a couple of on-screen buttons as well. One lets you chuck a grenade, another lets you use a health pack. Then you've got an ironsights button, and if you get up close and personal with a foe a button pops up that lets you stab them.

You get a limited number of grenades and health packs at the start of the experience, but you can top them up by spending gold or opening the free crates that are dropped on you every few hours.

The violence is fast and wonderfully breathless, and the maps are wonderfully designed. There are choke points, places where you can flank, high ground you can reach and snipe from, and exploring every nook and cranny gives you an edge in the fight.

The cash you earn while you fight can be spent on new guns, or upgrading your arsenal. There's a very real compulsion to just have one more go. Whether you're chasing the next level, a few more bucks, or completing one of the missions the game sets you.

It's difficult to remember a shooter that managed to cram so much fun into such a small package. This is a super shiny AAA experience that you'll keep diving back into just to revel in the rattle of the gunplay.

There's a lot more to discover in Guns of Boom, but I think it's for the best if you go out and do it for yourself. There are, after all, loadouts to perfect and challenges to best.

It's already been a great year for mobile gaming, but Guns of Boom sets the bar even higher. This is an essential mobile multiplayer experience, and you should drop what you're doing right now and go and pick it up.