There are a couple of 3D games on the marketplace that really allow the Nokia Lumia 800 to stretch its legs and show what it’s capable of. BulletAsylum is arguably the first 2D game to do so. But is it any good?

Nokia Lumia 800 free game: Paradox Exit review

The premise is real old school stuff - you’re tasked with defending your static colony from successive and ever-intensifying waves of enemy attacks. Think Missile Command. Think Space Invaders. BulletAsylum evokes any number of classic arcade shoot ‘em ups.

You typically start with a small number of gun emplacements defending a single city. As you progress through the Arcade and Architect modes (more on which in a moment) your armoury increases to include booming cannons and piercing laser beams.

The cost of expanding your forces is obvious - you become a bigger target, and have to cover a wider area with your defensive fire.

If the premise of this sci-fi shooter is old school, the control scheme is anything but. All you have to do to rain electric death upon the enemy swarms is touch the screen with your finger, at which point each of your gun emplacements will ignite. It’s some light show. Even then, you won’t be able to handle all of the enemies that come on you, which is why it’s handy that you can deploy a second finger to split your fire in two.

Needless to say, once the game gets into its advanced stages the screen becomes absolutely full of bullets and enemies. This looks great, there’s no denying it, but the result is that game also starts to feel a little lacking in skill - like you’re simply scrubbing the screen in some inane mini-game. Precision is not a factor.

This curiously vague gameplay reaches its nadir in Survival mode, which gives you a fully loaded out gun platform and then proceeds to throw everything and the kitchen sink at you. It’s a little tiresome.

Missing from Survival mode and present in Arcade and Architect is a basic RPG system that dispels some of these problems. Here you get the opportunity to spend money earned in the main game on upgrading your turrets. Each weapon becomes faster and more powerful, while the shields that encompass your cities (and any nearby turrets) get bigger and tougher.

While it’s nothing particularly innovative or involving, it does at least engage you in some base level of decision making, which the main game fails to do.

Ultimately, BulletAsylum is a sugary sweet treat that instantly hits your pleasure sensors, but proves sickly and unsatisfying in the long run. We’d recommend it as a download if you want to show someone what your Nokia Lumia 800 can do - and as a high-score-chasing experience it’s not half bad. Just don’t expect to get much more than an hour or two of sustained fun out of it.