With increasing frequency, games have been arriving on the iPhone with graphics and gameplay elements that have previously been seen only on the most powerful consoles. Shadow Guardian continues this trend with superb graphics and an exciting mix of third-person shooting combined with platformer-esque jumping and climbing.

Essentially, Shadow Guardian is an iPhone knock-off of PlayStation 3's popular Uncharted series. Both give gamers third-person control of a dark-haired male explorer, who they send jumping and climbing through ruins while regularly dispatching enemy units with a selection of different weapons. Shadow Guardian looks and plays so much like Uncharted: The iPhone Edition that it's surprising that the makers of the series have not brought suit against Shadow Guardian's developers.

While Shadow Guardian might suffer from a lack of originality, its developers picked great source material from which to draw. The Uncharted series is one of PlayStation 3's biggest critical and commercial successes, with gamers responding to the obvious time and care that went into developing the game and its sequel. Fortunately, Gameloft was just as quality-minded in their development of Shadow Guardian.

It's no exaggeration to say that Shadow Guardian looks like it belongs on a console - the ultimate compliment for a game on a mobile phone. The backgrounds are stunningly rendered with a smooth framerate that makes all the action look great on the iPhone. But while the graphics near console-level, Shadow Guardian's gameplay is slightly less impressive.

Expecting an Uncharted level of gameplay in Shadow Guardian is a mistake, as the iPhone just doesn't have the hardware to handle that type of experience. But while the cover-and-shoot mechanics aren't as developed as those in console monsters like Gears of War, and scaling towering structures isn't quite as elegant as in Assassin's Creed, Shadow Guardian does a remarkable job at replicating those experiences as best it can on the iPhone.

The gunplay in Shadow Guardian is perfectly calibrated for a mobile game that will often be played on the run. As long as users stay hidden, only popping their heads up to fire off a few rounds at a time, most every battle in the game is easily navigated, even on the difficult setting. While this is a bonus for casual gamers and those of us only interested in playing a few moments at a time, it's disappointing that there's no way to really crank up the game's difficulty, which in turn, has a negative effect on replay value.

The jumping-and-climbing aspects of Shadow Guardian suffer a similar problem. In games like Assassin's Creed or Mirror's Edge, a big part of the fun is discovering the best path to send your character scaling walls or jumping from ledges. Shadow Guardian's paths are extremely linear, however, as even when there's room for exploration, there is only one true way to proceed through the game's numerous obstacles. Making things even worse is that there are a series of guides that pop up and direct you where to climb, and jumping is only an option in places where there is somewhere to jump to.

Shadow Guardian's excessive hand-holding renders the game extremely playable, but has the undesirable side effect of making users feel more like they're watching a movie than playing a game. More varied and difficult combat, and increased freedom to explore the game's ruins would be welcome additions, and a great way to make Shadow Guardian's gameplay match the incredible depth of its visuals.

Some games get by on less-than-thrilling gameplay by amping up the cinematic aspects of their stories. Superior voice acting and characterization can make cut scenes sing and really pull users into a game. Unfortunately, Shadow Guardian's dialogue is wooden and awkward, and does little to cover up a standard, by-the-numbers story, with characters that fail to grab gamers' interest. This causes the game's frequent cut scenes to feel like a chore to get through, instead of a story-furthering treat.

While Shadow Guardian's gameplay is unchallenging and can get repetitive at times, the tasks you accomplish over-and-over again do tend to be pretty entertaining. Gamers won't want to spend extremely long periods playing through the game, but five minutes here or there spent climbing forgotten statues or scoring headshots on villains is a great way to use your iPhone's gaming capabilities. At $6.99, Shadow Guardian is one of the iPhone's more expensive titles, but every penny of it is on display in the game's well-developed world and gorgeous visuals.

Final Score: B