The Brothers in Arms iPhone Game Is Pretty Fancy

Gameloft's Brothers in Arms iPhone title, Hour of Heroes, was released yesterday on the Apple App Store--and it's pretty impressive.

Most notably, Hour of Heroes sports full 3D graphics and freedom of movement. Shooting is accomplished by tapping a button on the bottom right corner, movement is controlled via a faux analog stick, and aiming is a matter of dragging the screen. Grenades can even be thrown with a flick of the motion-sensitive phone.

Shacknews' Steve Gibson paid the $10 to take a look at the game, and came away slightly aroused. Because Brothers in Arms forces you to take cover often, the touchscreen aiming is more manageable than in a traditional FPS would be. And with 13 missions and various weapons to play with, it's one of the few traditionally-scaled titles in the iPhone lineup.

Even if you don't own an iPhone, it's an interesting sign of how rapidly mobile gaming is progressing.

And though Hour of Heroes doesn't quite live up to our gameplay standards, with the iPhone already grabbing 30% of the smartphone market, and id's John Carmack claiming that the iPhone is more powerful than a DS and PSP combined, it's a sign that Apple may seriously compete against traditional handhelds in the future.