I went I say stuck, I mean stuck. I was on the same level all last night and never even got to see the boss.

One trouble was that the controls, which I’ve previously held up as a shining example of how virtual sticks should be done, weren’t working. My thumbs just kept sticking and I couldn’t seem to fire the way I wanted. (Oddly, movement was mostly okay, it was only my right thumb having real problems.) I tried cleaning the screen and my hands a few times and, eventually, things seemed to click back into place.

Then the trouble was that I’m just a bit rubbish. I also think I need a better ship. I managed to get the one I was using to its maximum level and still wasn’t doing too well.

I’m going to have play again, because it was a very unsatisfying experience and didn’t match up to my normal feelings about the game at all.

I’d love to give you an action shot showing the pretty explosions and swarms of enemies, but when that’s happening I don’t have time to take a screenshot. So here’s a screen of a room where I’ve killed all the enemies except for a couple of little guns. Hey, at least there’s two – two! – bullets on the screen in this shot.

Also, the other day the developer gave out a bonus level in a way I’ve not seen before. It was a web link which, if opened in Safari on your iPhone, started the game with you all set up to play the new level. I don’t think it’s saved anywhere that I can see, you just have to follow the link every time. The developer warned that it was a hard level for leveled-up ships, but I thought I’d have a go anyway. The screen soon filled with bullets that could kill me with one hit and my guns seemed to have little effect on the baddies. I tried a couple of times, but it’s obvious I’m not ready for it. I didn’t cry, though. I took it like a man.

Well, surprisingly, no. The virtual pads are responsive and you can set them up to follow your thumbs around, so you never lose them. It’s an intelligent and workable system. It’s never going to be as natural as, say, an Xbox 360 pad, but the game knows this, giving you small amounts of enemies to hit and making them more difficult, rather than just throwing a million easy enemies at you. Sometimes, yes, I feel like the controls let me down, but less often than in, say, Geometry Wars on the DS.

What really gives the game legs, though, is leveling system. Like an RPG, you gain experience points and money as you play. Money is used to purchase new levels, ships and upgrades, experience is used to improve your stats. It’s a system that means that unfair deaths aren’t as infuriating as they otherwise might be, because every go gets you experience and money.

I played the Lite version for a long time. I then upgraded and I’ve played the full version a lot. It’s a brilliant, unexpected gem of a game. There’s a very generous Lite version of the game available and I thoroughly recommend giving it a go.

(If you do buy the full version, though, don’t delete the Lite version first. Once the full game is on your iPhone, start the Lite version and find the menu option to transfer your progress – that way you’ll start the full version with a huge load of credits.)