Stupid plane, you go squish now! 

We don't usually associate claymation with shooters. Isn't this style reserved for Christmas specials and Tim Burton? With its hand-created claymation, Platypus stands out as one of the quirkiest and most charming side-scrolling shooters on the iPhone. And we like it for more than the daring--and darling--art direction.

You'll pilot your F-27 Platypus fighter across four sprawling levels using either the touch controls or user-calibrated tilt controls, both of which are fine tuned and responsive. As you weave and shoot through flights of enemies, you'll be struck by all of the lovingly molded models; everything in the game was animated from real clay. There's also a ton of background detail in different levels, from snow covered mountains to flocks of jungle birds. And no matter how much activity is onscreen, the framerate perfectly matches pace. Platypus is more than visual splendor, too. It provides rich audio with a thumping Commodore 64-remixed soundtrack, although you can't listen to your own tunes during the game.

Your Platypus fighter navigates an interesting power-up system, as well. Certain enemies drop colored stars which equip temporary weapons: rockets, rapid fire, spray shots, sonic waves, and more. We liked the gentle difficulty curve, although enemy behaviors vary little. Similarly, the boss battles, while visually impressive and larger-than-life onscreen, lacked strategic depth beyond simply blasting and dodging away.