Arguably, first person shooters are some of the most popular video game genres to date. Even though nearly every console and platform out on the market has some sort of shoot ‘em style game, mobile devices have always been lacking in their selection. There’s something about the response of a controller that doesn’t transfer well to touch-interface devices. Within the last couple of months there has been an increase in FPS hitting the market – one of them being The Infinity Project 2. Created by Crazy Robot Games, The Infinity Project 2 is the sequel to the similarly titled The Infinity Project, which was released back in 2009. Although The Infinity Project had its flaws, it was still a decent play and The Infinity Project 2 was being hyped to take mobile FPS to the next level with an open world, engaging storyline, and entertaining multiplayer. Unfortunately, The Infinity Project 2 didn’t quite make its leap of faith.

There is something inherently bland about The Infinity Project 2’s gameplay. Conversations with NPCs are overly detailed and solely text-based, save for the occasionally hello which is heard when first speaking with them. Players are given the option to choose their responses, but there are only two choices and most of them can easily be labeled the ‘good’ option and the ‘bad’ option. While exploring and battling, players will notice there is little to no fluidity in the game’s controls; movement is controlled by the player’s left thumb and aiming is with the right. Buttons for jumping, mêlée attacks, and firing are fairly close together. Several times when I wanted to aim, I’d fire and jump, or I’d start pulling out a couple of mêlée moves while hopping up and down. Don’t worry about dying though – the AI of enemies is the least of your worries. To put it bluntly, it’s terrible. Enemies have a tendency to run into objects within the environment and get caught up, run into each other, and I’ve managed to mow down more than a few baddies that get themselves stuck in doorways.

The game’s world is fairly open – you can explore hidden places and buildings around the map and put off playing the actual game for a while. Mission-wise however, because of the expansiveness of the maps, it’s not uncommon to find yourself lost. Even the most open-world games out on the market give the player some sort of direction so that whenever the player decides to continue with their mission or quest, they know where to go or what to do. In The Infinity Project 2, other than an arrow at the top of the screen and poorly summarized mission briefs, there are no other markers to help. Intermittently key mission information is mentioned during conversations with NPCs and it’s extremely easy to miss it if you breeze through text in an attempt and get the game moving.

I would consider multiplayer the saving grace of The Infinity Project 2. Yes, the controls are frustrating when playing with other humans, especially those who somehow mastered them, but there is an entertainment value, and the perks you can rack up do come in handy. Survival Mode is just a pain – hordes of enemies are coming at you and you need to hold out as long as you can.

When I was offered The Infinity Project 2 to review, I was hoping I would find a game that blew away its mediocre competition. Despite The Infinity Project 2’s potential, it fell into the same pitfalls that have swallowed so many others. It honestly feels like the developers were too ambitious with what they wanted to accomplish and set the bar too high – instead of hunkering down and creating a game that had a select few elements that were completely polished, Crazy Robot Games simply added too much and befuddled what could have been an interesting game.

For more information on The Infinity Project 2 and its predecessor, check out the official website.