One of the unique elements of mobile is that because people have their devices with them constantly, game design has taken on a new element of trying to fit into people's lives. Phoenix 2 [Free] feels like the idea was to provide an intense shoot 'em up experience that could be more than just an occasional distraction, but a game that could fit into someone's life. And in that regard, it succeeds: it's a unique experience that works best on mobile because it's built for the platform, while still being a fun bullet hell shmup experience.
The idea behind Phoenix 2 is that everyone in the world gets a unique level that resets every 24 hours at about midnight GMT or so. The levels are different each day, but the level for that day is always the same, and you're trying to advance as far as possible. So, you can learn what the enemy patterns are going to be that day, and over time, you'll catch on to what the various enemies are like, but the important thing is figuring out what is happening specifically on that day. You'll want to get as far as possible, because you get more money the further you advance, which can be used on upgrading your ship. I love this whole daily play structure, and think more games need to do what something like this and Leap Day [Free] do. The issue with Leap Day to me is that it's such a daily time investment. Having only the need to play a few minutes to get a good session in with Phoenix 2 makes it much better to me as a pick-up-and-play title. In fa...