Last updated on January 30th, 2026 at 06:10 pm
Sine Mora – Action Game Review
Sine Mora is a Action/Casual/Entertainment game from www.handy-games.com GmbH, first launched in 13th July 2013.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 21+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Sine Mora Stand Out
9/10 Eurogamer — Game of the Week – “Perhaps the most visually stunning shooter ever made”
9/10 IGN — “Everything fans expect is here in Sine Mora.” 8.5/10 Gamespot — “One of the best XBLA titles this year.”
9.5/10 Destructoid — "One of the most aesthetically-pleasing, fun, and thought-provoking games to come out in some time."
91/100 GameTrailers — "Sine Mora's unforgettable mechanics and presentation bring the genre kicking and screaming back into the spotlight."
After conquering PC, XBLA and PS3, the cult classic shoot'em up has finally arrived to iOS! Fusing frantic, innovative gameplay from Digital Reality with stunning graphical design from Grasshopper Manufacture, Sine Mora set a new high standard for shmups and gained widespread acclaim. Strap yourself in and get ready for a breathtaking adventure!
Sine Mora is a horizontal shoot'em up that provides a unique take on challenge, where time is the ultimate factor. Mixing classic shooter sensibilities with contemporary presentation, Sine Mora is a gorgeous shoot'em up that offers a Story Mode that weaves an over-the-top tale and an Arcade Mode that provides deep, satisfying gameplay to challenge fans of the genre. With many ways to manipulate time, Sine Mora features over 50 weapon combinations to complete each beautiful stage that form fits to the player's skills with scaling difficulty. Soundtrack composed by Akira Yamaoka and featuring boss designs by Mahiro Maeda.
- Engrossing story integrated seamlessly into the action to elevate the user experience
- Unique, time extension based gameplay
- 7 beautifully crafted, diverse stages
- Over 50 different weapon combinations with time manipulating devices
- Great accessibility
- Story Mode is tailored to not scare away absolute newcomers to the genre
- Risk and reward – multiple difficulty levels in Arcade Mode with deep scoring and hidden rank system for the more experienced players
- Music composed by Akira Yamaoka, Sound Director of Silent Hill and Shadows of the Damned – Featuring boss designs by Mahiro Maeda, one of the most prominent Japanese anime creators (Blue Submarine No. 6, The Animatrix – The Second Renaissance, Kill Bill: Vol. 1)
This version is not yet optimized for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and 4th generation iPod Touch! Running the game on these devices is not advised.
This Action game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Sine Mora is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 4th May 2015
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Memory optimization
64bit support
Download & Availability
Sine Mora is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Sine Mora is top-notch in every way. The iOS controls work great. The app icon is different from the graphic used in the games title screen because the developers want the iOS users to easily remember that Sine Mora is a game with lots of action. Throughout the game there are many references to the characters ability to time travel. Time travel is very popular in entertainment of all types but the way its used in Sine Mora is very unique and not boring. There is a really complex story that goes along with the action but it is read in between the stages. Speaking of stages, Sine Mora is divided into many of them which you can see blurred out in the stage selection screen right away before you start playing. This means that you wont have any problem taking a break from the engaging gameplay. There is dialogue between the airplane radios during the levels to make them more enjoyable. The story is incredibly well written from beginning to end and it feels as though it was written by a professional author with all the characters emotions playing their roles. Sine Mora is everything anyone could want in a mobile game.
This game has one of the best bosses, best gameplay of an airship shootem up game we played since the game 1943, and that was on Capcom Arcade Stadium. If we could create a smash hit acclaimed licened movie, it would be this, imagin Kolobok in live action. We wish there where merchantdice and or action figures of characters and bosses of the game. This hame one of two reasons how a rose became our favorite flower, thank Ruby Rose, RWBY, Rooster Teeth, Monty Omen, Suda51, and this game for our love of roses.
IG ave loves this app from the day we got it years and years ago. The Dev may not feel the same seeing as this app has not been shown the love it deserves with recent updates. Just because it still boots up doesnt mean it is working so great. This app had great potential nearly realized then. Now it is potential that needs to be pursued further by the dev. But it would still be far better than some app offerings in the App Store. Please update.
Great action, beautiful graphics, and even an intriguing story. And it works perfectly on iOS 9.3.
When we first got this game, we had a 4th gen iPod Touch and an iPad 2. Since, we've sold our iPad and upgraded to an iPhone 5. Moving onto the smaller screen really hurt the amount of enjoyment we got out of the game. But now that we've upgraded to a 6S, we feel like the screen is big enough that we can actually dodge between bullets since they're spread out just a little bit more. That extra .7 inches really makes a difference in shmups. The game runs perfectly fine on our 6S with iOS 9.1.2 and 9.3 (if anyone out there is curious), and this is one of the most graphically intense shoot-em-ups you'll find in the AppStore (even with the diminished graphics compared to other platforms) – as well as one of the most full bodied and challenging. If you can deal with the bottom section of the screen being blocked for button control and don't have a 4 inch device, we'd totally recommend checking this one out, no matter the price (as it's full price of $6 is still almost 50% cheaper than on Steam).
Sad customer here, just bought and will not run on our ipad air 2 running ios 8.4 fix please.
Would be a 5-star game if it supported iPhone X screens.
This would be one of the top games of its kind for iOS But the lack of blue tooth controller support just ruined the whole effort. The controls on the screen makes it literally impossible to enjoy or finish maps. Pity.
The App Store listing for this title indicates it has been three years since it was last updated. Please update this game so that it is optimised for use on newer devices. It is/was an expensive app that many people would appreciate continued support for. Currently the gaming window only occupies a narrow portion of the screen and menus are all but unreadably small. Streamlining the user interface would also be helpful.
Tried to launch it on iPhone 6+ but game just crashes.
This game is amazing. We have played it on a pc for a while and we were so surprised when we found it for iPad. We bought it immediately. But then came the big disappointment of having to play with a virtual controller in the touch screen instead of being able to play with our actual controller. This is a game that requires fine controller input and it becomes incredibly frustrating to play it like that. We would say that the game is simply unplayable with touch screen. It would be a 5 star game if it had controller support. Sad :(.
We're on an iPhone 6+. The game used to work just fine; we even tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but that didn't help. Game was enjoyable back when we could play it! Will gladly change our review once the game is functional again.
Not much else we can say in the comments, just a really solid game! Great graphics, good controls, fun and fast paced.
Possibly the weirdest game we have ever played, but also the most fun, with elements of speed boosts, time boosts, and boosts for weapons, it makes this game quick, exiting, and just a good game to waste your time on. Sine Mora is truly a game to play for all gamers.
It's the best looking shooter on ios, and we have them all. No Facebook garbage is needed to save like earlier version reviews. Plays great and gives a lot of options. Very glad we got it.
At first it's easy and now we're stuck at this part with lasers and we think you have to slow down time to dodge the lasers but we're not entirely too sure, haha, but the graphics are great and the voice acting (with subtitles is amazing), we also like the fact we can fast-forward the cut-scenes in case we want to get right into gameplay.
Graphics are beautiful, game is hard as hell. It would be sweet if the game filled up the whole iPad screen, instead of just wide screen version.
Beautiful game, please add controller support.
We hadn't played this much since we reloaded our 6+ back in Sept '14. We've recently gotten back into it. Wow what a heck of a game. Graphics and gameplay are awesome and yes it is very tough, which gives you that special sense of accomplishment. There are plenty of control setting options to get reasonably close to good controls…still we took 1 full star off for controls simply because you die too often for no other reason than controls (don't listen to other reviews that say they make the game unplayable – need to tweak the control settings after you play for a while). But the rest of the game elements more than makes up for the sometimes frustrating controls. If you like shoot 'em ups then this is a must have at any price. If you are not a fan of the genre you might be frustrated with the difficulty level in this game. The visuals are nothing short of spectacular, especially the boss fights. Note: you can turn off the dialogue if you don't like hearing the story as you play. In fact there are quite a few settings to mess with that will improve gameplay.
Got an mfi gamepad assuming the game supports it. Got tired of sliding our fingers on glass. Nope. Should have checked, awesome game in every aspect otherwise… Holding our breath for mfi support! Then we'll add the last star :).
This game is great, most of the bugs reported in previous reviews have been fixed. And no Facebook junk is required. It starts easy and gets harder. The only part we don't like is the story, it is confusing and hard to fallow, And it's hard to understand the characters motives. Other than that Great.
This is a great game, and the port is excellent in all regards except for the lack of MFi controller support. Any decent shooter is going to need the accuracy provided by a physical controller, and this game is remarkably remiss by leaving it out in lieu of only having touch controls. This title will be a must if they add controller support; in the meantime its good, but not living up to its potential.
We've tried on both our phone and our iPad and it just doesn't work with touch screens.
Graphics are good, lots of action, storyline is besides the point. The controls are what kills this game. As it is, it is too expensive and too frustrating to provide much enjoyment–even for shmup fans.
We really like this high quality console game for the iOS.
Quality shooter through and through. High production values etc. If there's anything we'd like to see changed, it would be the black borders that together with the control area covers half the screen, leaving quite a small-ish area for the actual game. Obviously more of an issue on a already small iPhone then on the iPad. Still, don't let that scare you away from this gem of a game.
Truly unresponsive input is the killer. While the game looks amazing that alone doesn't justify the price. For now spend your money on a Cave game and see how shooters are done right on iOS.
We don't know why people are crying about this game…it's absolutely awesome.
One of important thing the developers miss is the feel of control in the game. It has to be somewhat changed or improved to make it feel natural when it comes to control a small plane in the game. This feels almost like 'done all the homework but didn't review some parts'.
We've played this on OS X and PS3 thoroughly enjoyed it. Hoping for a portable version, we mistakenly bought this atrocity. The controls are not as responsive as they need to be, and we also often find ourselves moving in a direction other than where we moved the stick. We can't bring ourselves to play this anymore, unless the controls are revamped to work well on a touchscreen.
Low resolution, letter boxed graphics, poor frame rate and virtual d-pad controls. Yuck. Get this on Steam. The iOS port is terrible.
Well… Even after the update (which we're grateful for) controls don't seem to work as expected. Just a little more tweaking and you'll get your masterpiece finished. It's a great game and even though there's no full screen support and it's kinda hard to play it, we'll still recommend it to every shmup fan. Thanks for this game. Ps: Are dialogues in latin too? Because that's awesome.
Everything about this game is first class. Highly recommend.
Sine is a well rounded game, it is easily appreciated by all types of gamers. Although not optimized for iPod 4, it will still run( a little sluggish). We're sure developers will optimize soon. Rating 5 stars because game is absolutely gorgeous! This game will go far! Hopefully maybe a more diverse level up system in the future! :) PLEASE OPTIMIZE FOR OPOD4.
Needs minor refinements, full screen display, Id really say 3.5 stars. BUT still no Gamecenter support, and sensitivity adjustments for relative touch inputs, and FULL SCREEN, and customizeable button layouts. Almost every game out there this is standard equipment. We do like this update. Defininatly going in the right direction, just a lil bit further guys the finish line is right there.
Por favor actualicen el juego con creditos inlimitados o pongan un modo facil ya que pague $6.00 bucks y ademas quisiera jugarlo en pantalla completa urge una actualizacion y les pondre las estrellas restantes gracias.
Is not full screen and foes not support multitasking.
Thanks for adding touch controls, now this game is actually playable.
This game is impossible to play on iPhone, black bars and extremely small game area, please make it FULL SCREEN.
Just like consoles controls are fine we like it the way it's is don't worry bout negative comments.
Awesome game!!! Worth every penny.
Loved this on PS3 and Vita, so happy it's on our iPad now.
Such a great game. Perfect side-scrolling shooter. Graphics? A+. Gameplay? A. Heart that went into making this game? A++. Way to go, game makers.
The game is fun and looks nice. However, we have a iPhone 5 And can not change the graphics from normal to high or ultra. Please fix this as the graphics need a rad of antialiasing type fixes, the pixelated lines around objects are killing us. Also, why not have the control area transparent like every other game at this price? Please get rid of this gray control area and make this game full screen!!!!!!! Also , we don't have face book and can not save our game, please get rid of that requirement.
We want to give this a 5 but can't because the game should be full screen on iphone 5 and the UI should be enhanced with no thumb pad because you can use your left thumb to move freely with auto fire. Both thumbs activate the special and the right thumb while holding can activate time shift. Simple:) Try that and you have our 5*****. Also screenshots a bit deceptive as it looks full screen and the actual game is less than that ( much less for the iPhone 5).
A decent enough game but for two things: letter-boxing and Facebook login requirements. The latter is extremely annoying.
We were surprised at this decision. You also cannot access leaderboards unless you log into Facebook. We do not have a Facebook account and we don't want one just for a game. As for the game, it's truly amazing to see this level of detail on an iPad. The game plays and feels amazing, and we even replayed the first level a dozen times because we were so impressed with our first impression. The control stick felt very good to us and we were comfortable right away. We don't see the point of having 4 buttons for the right thumb though. That little detail needs to be rethought, because it feels like there is too much going on there for one digit. It's not like a controller where we can hold fire and then roll our thumb over to slow down time. The aspect ration looks ok. We would prefer the top black bar be removed because this game looks so good…why would you want to give the viewer less? When something looks this good, let it shine out, don't limit the space! The bottom one we don't mind, because we agree that the controls should have their own space. If some of the negatives we addressed (no more FB, remove top-most black bar, rethink right side of controls) then for us we can rate 5 stars. Right now it's sitting at 3, because we feel this games full potential for iOS is being stifled by those three glaring issues.
Well we knew nothing of this game but we love new things so we tried. Ugh! We guess if you like "shoot em ups" this game is for you. As far as the description of the story line making it easier for newcomers? Forget it. It's in another language (intentionally for the game pay) but only serves to add another layer of frustration. The worst part for us anyway was having to start over each time you die. You get some extra lives but you burn them up quick and it becomes so TEDIOUS after awhile of hearing the same creepy tones and flight instructions while battling the same group of monsters over and over again. So we guess if this is you kind of game it might be great. As for us we prefer less fire power and more brain power when playing a game. The boredom of shooting the same targets and enemies is excruciatingly bad about an hour in and we gave up. Cool graphics but the boredom is insane.
We love the game but the viewable action on the screen is so small. There's a huge black bar on top and on the bottom. We'd rather them mess with the aspect ratio and give us more to see.
Our biggest gripe with them was the d-pad. Why they chose to place it in such a static location beats us. It doesn't work. If you take your finger off the screen for just a second and then place it back on, the game will not recognize your touch relative to the new location you just placed your finger but to the location of the statically placed d-pad at the bottom left of the screen. What does this mean? Well… It means that if you lift your finger and stray even the smallest amount away from the center of this static d-pad then your plane will start to move in that direction. Why is this so bad? This is bad because when your in the heat of battle and dodging a barrage of bullets from enemy planes, precision movement is key in order to not be hit. Pretty much every time we played the game to give it a serious go, this small quirk has gotten in the way Every. Single. Time. Other than that, the game is fantastic. The presentation and graphics are top notch for an iOS game. We wasn't able to get very far into the game to see how the story fleshes out but it appears to not be half bad. Therefore, we will merit the game an extra star for these pros for a two star rating. It's a shame. We've always been a fan of the genre since the U.N. Squadron days on the SNES. We really wanted to enjoy this game but unfortunately this issue is game breaking for us.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.30
- Size: 345.61 MB
- iOS: 6.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
- Developer: www.handy-games.com GmbH
Last updated: 4th May 2015 | Genre: Action, Casual | Developer: www.handy-games.com GmbH