TUAW exclusive: Cannon Cadets brings frantic robot-killing action to iPhone

I spent about the last two weeks working my way through the levels of Angry Birds HD, a wacky and addictive game for iPad in which you slingshot birds at pigs to kill them. Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but if you have played the game, you know that it's a great way to kill a few hours days worth of spare time. When I was approached about previewing a new, similar game called Cannon Cadets, my first inclination was that it wasn't going to be as fun.

I'm glad to say I was wrong. Based on a pre-release version of the game I tested, Cannon Cadets from XMG Studio is a blast (no pun intended). As you can see in the video above, the back story consists of an evil monkey who has created an army of robots to kill all of the fun in the universe. Rather than using a slingshot to fire suicidal birds, you use a small cannon to fire small characters at the robots. There are a number of different planets on which you can play, each with a variety of increasingly difficult levels. As with Angry Birds, sometimes a straight shot at a target is not the answer, while blasting away at structures causes them to topple and knock off a bunch of robots.

There are flying targets that, when destroyed, provide access to hidden levels. Other targets launch your characters when destroyed, so a direct hit can take out a string of robots. If you're unsuccessful in killing off the robots in a level, you can either try again or move to another level to try your luck.

The graphics in Cannon Cadets appear to be optimized for the iPhone 4's Retina Display, since they really pop on the device. The game is expected to be in the App Store soon; stay tuned to TUAW and we'll let you know when you can start killing robots. Cannon Cadets will be released for iPhone and iPod touch first, followed by a version for iPad.