Color Bandits HD's aesthetics are very interesting. It's a blend of hand-drawn fantasy and steampunk. The main character has a lot of attitude and spunk and he's very "stick it to the man" as he fights his way through the six worlds blanketed in black and white by an evil boss, striving to bring color back to them. He wears a mask over his head and eyes, as well as dark sunglasses and he appears to be a cat of some sort, but one with a big gun. Backgrounds are fairly basic and get the point of the areas across pretty well, although once they have been colored in completely, you'll notice all sorts of interesting details. You'll travel through a Forest, a Town, the Wastelands, an Industrial area, the Ravines and finally, Cloud City. As you destroy enemies and progress through the levels in each world, the color will start to slowly fill in behind you, providing you with a lovely backdrop colored with muted and lush tones. Your enemies, of which there are lots of variations, will always appear colorless, because they are the minions of the man who has leeched all color from this world. The look of the enemies reminds me of something that I can't quite place my finger on, but regardless, it's interesting. You'll have hand-drawn missiles (both direct and heat-seeking), heat-seeking arrows, some zeppelin-looking enemies, metal creepy-crawlies that approach on the ground, large circular flying creatures with protruding eyes, and metal spiked things with a single foot that propels them off the ground - you get the picture. There's a lot of chaos going on during gameplay and it can sometimes get overwhelming what with the number of different enemies coming at you from all directions, but there's a power-up for that. More on that later.

The sound effects work well for the game and you'll have satisfying booms when you destroy enemies, as well as appropriate reports from the various weapons you'll use. The lightning power-up has a satisfying sizzle when it connect with enemies and the small spray gun sounds a bit like a BB machine gun (if such a thing existed). When your character gets hit, he'll jump back with a "huh!" and you'll grow to despise that sound if you get hit once and begin a chain of them as you are bounced all around by enemy fire over and over until you die. It happens.

The menu music is very flute-y, with a heavy dose of synth, while the background music is upbeat and 80's videogame-sounding, quite reminiscent of Mega-Man. Each level has its own background tune. I liked the music and although it was repetitive, it really worked for the game and I enjoyed it. From time to time, I would also hear congratulatory shouts and fanfare, but I couldn't tell what brought that on, whether I had just made it through a particularly tough area teeming with enemies, killed a hard enemy before he barely made it on screen, or surpassed a high score. Since I had it happen with all three occurrences, I can't be sure.

There are two modes in Color Bandits HD: Adventure Mode and Survival Mode, which is unlocked after you progress a certain distance through Adventure Mode. Adventure Mode has your character working through waves of enemies as you travel through the six worlds described earlier. Your character can be moved left and right, although he cannot jump. Enemies will approach from either the right or the left side and some will drop bombs as they approach, whereas others will simply attempt to make contact with your character and damage him that way. Still others merely float across the screen and are meant to draw your fire from other, more dangerous enemies. Use strategy and pick your battles, as not every enemy has to be eliminated. Some can simply be dodged or ignored, where others will hunt you until they make contact. Still others will drop numerous bombs and must be taken out before they get to where you are or it can be overwhelming. The key to defeating the enemies, and the bosses, for that matter, is to learn their flight pattern and approach them accordingly. Some you can wait until they approach you and then rest on the ground, taking them out much more easily. Some enemies drop a spray of bombs when you kill them, so it's easier to let them fall until they hit the ground and detonate away from you. It's all about the strategy. As you kill enemies, your Combo Meter will increase, but if you stop shooting, it immediately starts to count down. I assume this relates to an increase in your points, but since my focus was always on clearing the level, I really didn't notice a big change in points. If you want to survive the entire game, your focus must be on clearing the enemies from the screen.

There are three levels in each world and they get progressively harder as you go. Right before you are about to move to another level (which is also a checkpoint - good to know), you will get an announcement on screen that states "A Huge Wave of Enemies is Approaching." Prior to this, you should have had several opportunities to shoot and pick up a power-up that looks like the nuke symbol and will take out all of the enemies and bombs on screen, so it can be a real life-saver and is one that I tried to hold onto for as long as possible. There are also health power-ups that add a little bit back to your health meter and finally, there is a power-up that floats by that has 7 different possible weapons icons and you shoot it to select the weapon you want and earn that weapon for a short while. Weapons include electricity, a heavy spray bomb, a light spray gun, a weapon that sprays a stream of fire, and several heavy-hitters such as one that shoots fire balls and sounds like a heavy stationary gun and another that shoots green laser pulses. Some are more effective than others, but all are more powerful than your standard gun, so grab these at every opportunity to do some serious damage, including 1 shot kills. Since these guns each have a "life meter" on them, if you are able to snag one right before an end boss, they come in handy.

Once you have cleared the three levels in a world, you'll face the World Boss. These guys can be tough and the later ones really require some strategy, luck and the last one pretty much requires a full health bar. They include a large stationary gun that shoots small bombs that drop; a large circular gear that drops like a bouncing ball and spews smaller gears; a large spider with bombs that also drop constantly; a strange ship-like creature that looks like it has huge teeth in front that shoots bombs; and finally, your nemesis floating in a ship spewing bombs and gears.

Once you are tired of Adventure Mode, you can try your luck at Survival Mode, which is just what it sounds like. You try to see how long you can last as wave after wave of enemies come after you, but unlike Adventure Mode, the screen isn't constantly moving towards the end of the level, but instead remains stationary. This is a fun diversion, but I don't see myself going back to it too often.

For starters, there are no difficulty settings, so Color Bandits HD is what it is. I cleared the first three worlds in a pretty short time without even dying, so I felt they were pretty easy, although they certainly ramped up in difficulty as I went along. However, things start to get a little more tough and tricky once you hit World 4, the Industrial area, and they get tougher on out from there. I spent a great deal of time trying to beat the final World Boss, although in the grand scheme of things, it was only a few hours. That being said, if you go into your battles trying to clear every enemy, you will have a more difficult time than you will if you learn the patterns of the enemies and bosses and work through them that way. You will have some frustration during gameplay because Color Bandits HD uses a very peculiar control scheme, but once you get the hang of it, it makes perfect sense. I found that once I had beaten the game and went back through the Worlds to refresh my memory for writing this review, things were a lot easier and also much more fun because I knew what to expect and was really comfortable with the control scheme.

The control scheme is where Color Bandits HD really stands out. Now, I will admit that I am a relative noob when it comes to iPad games, having just gotten one recently. So maybe this scheme is all over the place, but this was my first introduction to it and although I was hesitant at first, now I'm sold that it works really well for this type of game. It's basically a dual stick layout where you have a bar on the left that looks a lot like a paddle in Breakout or Arkanoid or another old school block-breaking game. This "stick" is to control the movement of your character. The bar is stationary, but you can slide your finger to the right or left and move your character from side to side this way. Since he can't jump, you'll want to basically keep him centered unless bombs are headed his way and then a dodge is in order. On the right side is a circle and this represents your gun trigger. You place your finger here to initiate shooting and you slide your finger around the circle to indicate what direction you want to fire in. It sounds a little odd and it takes a bit of getting used to, but now that I am accustomed to it, I love it.

In short, I enjoyed my time with Color Bandits HD, although it was fairly quick to beat it and is not really something I see myself going back to, unlike Army of Darkness HD, which I play all the time. The concept is unique, as is the control scheme, and although there were some frustrating moments, I had fun with it. At $1.99, you may not want to spring for it since there's only a few hours of gameplay here, but if it goes on sale, it's worth checking out just for the unusual control scheme and cool aesthetic.