Fresh off a new round of funding, game developer Cmune has released iPad and Android tablet versions of its cross-platform first-person shooter UberStrike.
A paid beta version of the iPad release had been in the App Store for a while, but the company has now made the app a free download, thus officially launching it on the platform. It’s worth noting that the Android tablet version only supports Tegra 3-powered devices, such as the Nexus 7, Asus Transformer Prime and Sony’s Xperia S tablet.
UberStrike has already amassed over 10 million users. One of its unique selling points early on was the fact that it was playable on Facebook and worked across platforms, allowing players from the Mac app to compete against Web-based counterparts.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
The game certainly draws comparisons to the original Counter-Strike, and its name does little to dispel that, but it has evolved into a unique game in its own right.
Playing first-person shooters on touch screens can be frustrating, so Cmune says it spent hours designing the controls for the tablet version.
“Chuck Norris and desktops have six degrees of freedom but current touch devices don’t. The prototype control scheme we designed is as close as possible to a mouse and keyboard combination. We tested a ton of variations during tablet LAN parties and found a winner. Players loved it.” UberStrike’s Chief Architect Shaun Lelacheur Sales said in a statement.
I’ll award them bonus points for the Chuck Norris reference.
The multitouch iPad controls, which you’ll need to enable, take some getting used to, and they’re not quite as effective for me as a traditional keyboard and mouse. Thankfully, match-ups are only between tablets, so everyone will be on an equal playing field.
Cmune said last month that its latest round of funding, which was led by DCM, would go toward capitalizing on the tablet opportunity, and the company has today made good on that commitment. It has the lofty ambition of growing to become a billlion-dollar gaming brand. Cmune is also backed by Atomico, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström’s VC fund.
Based on what I saw during a recent visit to Cmune’s headquarters, the company has some interesting stuff in the works. Its already sizable user base suggests its cross-platform strategy has been paying off, and UberStrike’s tablet release should provide sizable growth.
➤ UberStrike | App Store | Google Play
Disclosure: This article contains an affiliate link. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, The Next Web may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question. For more information, please see our Terms of Service.
Headline image credit: iStockphoto
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.