Hands-On Impressions: Top Gun for iPhone

Those "Danger Zone" rectangles keep popping up like Terminator-vision.

If the mention of"Highway to the'Danger Zone'" sends your brain into that looping song lyric, Top Gun will lock you onto simple iPhone fun. (Also, you're welcome. Nothing can get that song out of your mind.) If that refrain doesn't send you into a Tom Cruise-and-Val Kilmer tailspin, this iPhone coda might not carry enough action on its own.

I had fun playing bits of the game ahead of its early-May release, but I couldn't separate the fantasy of living Top Gun from this iPhone iteration. And why would I want to? Maverick and Iceman are back, now as instructors at the Top Gun school; the gamer plays a new recruit. Story text and illustrations break up the 15 missions; Kilmer's likeness is included, while Cruise's is not.

I wanted some of the shlocky love-story undertones, but a game producer said that Top Gun focuses just on the action. Freeverse handled the development, basing the game off its work from Days of Thunder. The graphics look good, especially in a level with glowing clouds at sunset. However, I thought it was strange at first to base a flying game on a driving title, but Top Gun is a casual, arcade-style shooter.

Dogfighting at sunset. How romantic.

Your F-22 or B-2 moves along a preset path, and your actions dive, tilt, and roll around the iPhone screen. And while vastly different in the real world, both planes handle in the same style. Various missions move you between ocean, desert, and even city settings, but the action is similar each time. As missiles, rock formations, buildings, and other obstacles move towards you, some of the nine rectangular divisions of the screen light up with the "Danger Zone" warning. Unless you tilt away, your plane will get hit and potentially crash. At least you can tap an Eject button to bail out.

The motion-based controls felt good, with me being able to re-calibrate to new positions when paused. Once I remembered to invert my vertical movements--like a traditional plane yolk--I got better at dodging dangers. Thumb-buttons on the left and right shoot the Vulcan cannons and missiles; I got used to the controls to knock down enemies.

The simple arcade style could appeal to any casual player, but Top Gun's nostalgic ties hook hardest. I wanted to keep playing to hear more of "Danger Zone" and the Top Gun theme, not the extra songs commissioned for the game. And I hope the story maintains the dated style from the movie. Pricing has not been announced, but Top Gun flies on May 7.