From Yingpei Games, the developer formerly known as Epic Games China, comes Mercenary Ops, an Unreal Engine-powered on-rail zombie shooter that's one of the best Resident Evil games on iTunes, despite not being a Resident Evil game.
One look at the game's iTunes description makes its inspiration abundantly clear: "In Mercenary Ops, you are Leo, the seasoned mercenary hired to face his toughest mission – contain the exploding biological crisis in a small European town before the biological terror spreads to the major cities of Europe! You will face infected adversaries and bosses from out of this world!"
Leo. Not Leon.
Yingpei might have a little problem in the originality department — Mercenary Ops is also the name of what looks like an entirely different PC shooter from the developer — but it makes a pretty good on-rails shooter. The visuals are lush, the one-handed tap to shoot control option works incredibly well, and the tapping slaughter of biologically weaponized humans and animals is broken up by brief moments of finger-swiping drama. Hardcore players can opt for a more traditional control scheme, and gyroscopic aiming is available for those that enjoy looking ridiculous while playing an iOS game. There was a little slowdown on my iPod Touch 5th gen, but the less-powerful iPad Mini handles the game like a champ.
Mercenary Ops is available as a free one-level demo on iTunes, with an additional seven levels and Survival mode added via $1.99 in-game purchase. Give the free bit a try, and see if you are ready to take on the dramatic third level:
Oh, Yingpei.