For those of you that don’t remember, the battle of Hoth is the scene in the Empire Strikes Back with the large robot walkers set on the snow and ice planet Hoth. Game designer Tomas Rawlings commented on the setting for the game, “This game focuses on one of sci-fi’s most epic battles, it is epic because it has got it all – conflict, heroism, a back-against-the war struggle, cool military technology, good vs evil and of course AT-ATs.”

In the iPhone game you take the role of the commander of the Rebel forces defending the shield generators from the Imperial forces. As the game progresses through 15 levels, additional units will be added to both the Rebel and Imperial sides. Once a level has been completed on classic mode it can be played on fortress mode. In tower defense games you generally have some form of currency that allows you to build new units. In the Battle for Hoth game those are called command points. You only have a set number of command points per level thus can only build so many defense units. The key to the game is building the right kind of units and placing them in the proper locations to set up a proper defense.

Star Wars: The Battle for Hoth Game Information

General Information
Star Wars: The Battle for Hoth is a game for both iPhone and iPod. It is a tower defense strategy game; such games have the player placing defensive units to stop waves of enemy units from exiting the level. The game sees the player taking the role of commander of the Rebel forces trying to stop Imperial forces from reaching the main shield generators before the evacuation of Hoth is complete. As the game progresses new units for both the Rebel forces and the Imperial attackers are introduced. The game has 2 difficulty settings – easy and normal, plus comes with a help and unit guide.
Gameplay
The player begins each level with a set amount of Command Points. The player ’spends’ these by choosing a unit type and selecting where on the level to build them. Each unit can also be upgraded for additional Command Points. Upgrades add to a units power – depending on the unit type – increasing aspects such as range and damage. The player can also change the targeting orders for units – tell them to prioritise ground/air units or stronger/weaker units (though not all Rebel unit types can target flying units). This can be done on an a single unit or for all units at once. The player can also build trenches to both funnel the Imperial forces into kill-zones and to position infantry who gain extra protection once inside. Except for infantry, Rebel units require a power supply to operate.
Imperial forces emerge from staging areas to the left of the map and proceed to try to exit the level on the right, to damage the main shield generators. Once too much damage has been done to the main shield generators, the player has failed the level and must replay to progress. The various Imperial units do different amounts of damage to the main shield generators.
Battlefield
The game is set on the planet of Hoth – it features 15 levels. Initially each level is played in ‘Classic Mode’. In this mode once the player’s defences have destroyed each group of Imperial attackers, a Command Points bonus token is left behind. By touching these the player can collect them and earn additional Command Points. If the player collects multiple tokens with a single sweep of the finger, bonus Command Points are awarded. However, leaving Command Points bonus tokens risks the value of them degrading over time.
Once a level has been completed in ‘classic mode’, it is available to play again in ‘Fortress Mode’. In this mode the player get a larger starting pool of Command Points, but does not gain any additional during the game. The player collects Score Points bonus tokens instead which add to the player final score.
Unit List
Rebel Units

• Soldier – A basic infantry unit armed with a blaster rifle. This unit requires no additional
  power but is vulnerable to heavy fire. Place in trenches to improve their defensive
  capabilities. Can only target ground units.
• Heavy Weapon Soldier – A solider armed with a powerful repeating blaster. This unit requires no additional power but is vulnerable to heavy fire. Place in trenches to improve their defensive capabilities. Can target ground and air units.
• Power Generator – Provides all units within range with an energy supply.
• 1.4 FD P-Tower Laser Cannon – High damage ground-to-ground combat weapon. Can only target ground units.
• DF.9 Anti-Infantry Battery Tower – Effective against infantry, but vulnerable to larger units. Can target ground and air units.
• Ion Cannon – High power consumption but very powerful weapon. Can target ground and air units. To vehicles the ion-impact disrupts the electrical systems slowing the unit down. To infantry the heat of the impact can kill.
• Snowspeeder Control Tower – Launches a single Snowspeeder which completes it’s attack run before returning to the base. Can only target ground based units.
• X-wing Control Tower – Launches a single X-wing fighter which completes it’s attack run before returning to the base. Targets only air units.
• Energy Shield Generator – Generates a localised Energy Shield that protects all Rebel units within its range. If the Energy Shield collapses, the generator unit is destroyed.

Imperial Units

• Viper Probe Droids – Fast but with weak armour, these units are used by the Imperial forces as cannon fodder.
• Scout Trooper – Fast but vulnerable infantry. These troops are the advance of the main force.
• Snowtroopers – Elite infantry trained to fight on any world. Deployed in large numbers to hammer at enemy defenses.
• 74-Z Speeder Bike – Often used as a scouting unit or for rapid attack. This air unit is fast speed with weak armour.
• AT-ST Walker – A fast walker with medium armour. Designed for hit and run attacks on enemy defenses.
• TIE Fighter – The main multi-role space fighter of the Imperial forces. This air unit is also used to attack ground targets.
• AT-AT Walker – Huge, heavily armoured walkers that are deployed to smash foes into submission either by being shot or crushed. These units ignore trenches and can crush all in their path.
• Command Units – ‘Boss’ versions of existing units but much stronger and tougher. Concentrate your fire at them to stop their advance.

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The incredibly long and detailed tutorials will tell you all you need to know; suffice to say that you need to keep both sides fighting for as long as possible. Swipe your finger on a side to provide them with weapons, which range from flame throwers to bubble guns. Keep your eye on the hilarious headlines, because they can sway the battle. Choose between three different modes–Normal, Hardcore, and Escalation, each more difficult than the last–and three different teams, and watch as the landscape and the armies get torn up. Turn the iPhone vertical to pause the game.

The graphics of Balance of Power are very South Park-esque, which goes along quite well with the morally dubious nature of this game. Gameplay is fast-paced and smooth, but remember to keep the frontlines within the green area–it’s easy to tip the scale too far and cause one side to win the war. The background music is exciting, but the voiceovers steal the show, as they are in character and very well-done; reading the news ticker is always good for a laugh. The concept for this game app is innovative, and hopefully added content in the future will make it even better; as it is, the game is not quite as challenging as others…going through the tutorials would probably take up more of your time than playing a couple of levels.

Here is a video demo of the Balance of Power app on the iPhone:

The post Review: Balance of Power appeared first on AppTrawler.

There are few things finer than a spot of stupid heaped atop cartoon violence.

That said, for all the gloriously gratuitous shuriken-in-the-face moments that pepper Cartoon Wars, the game is not as brainless as its puerile presentation would have you believe.

The 2D play area features a tower at both ends, black and white units spawning from the left structure via a selection panel along the bottom of the screen. Spawned units move automatically toward their colourful foes on the right of the screen.

The goal is to spawn enough units to successfully overwhelm the colour tribe and destroy their tower. This necessitates the prudent spawning of units, which are purchased using the game’s currency, Mana.

It essentially boils down to resource management.

Fail to get your troops mobilised early on and you risk fighting tooth and nail stay in the game. If you blow all of your resources too soon however, fending off that crucial mid-point of a battle may get the best of your defences.

Along with ground units, you have a turret-mounted long-range crossbow, which is controlled by a somewhat unruly slider mechanism, but still useful for providing extra punch when your Mana is running low.

Winning battles earns gold, which you can spend on upgrading units or purchasing new ones including gunners, ninjas, and wizards.

The gameplay is fun, with the linear progression capably stimulating those tingling reward receptors in your brain, and the chaotic battles aren’t short on spectacle or excitement.

There’s a conspicuous lack of a two player mode, which would have suited the gameplay wonderfully though. This would have helped the single player mode, which, lumbered with the task of carrying the whole game, isn’t quite deep enough to keep you engaged for lengthy sessions.

There some tactics to be used and enjoyed, but even with the addition of new units, the gameplay doesn’t evolve throughout the course of the game and monotony creeps in from time to time.

At the outset though, this is a refreshing take on Tower Defense, and it’s deliciously violent throughout.

Cartoon Wars isn’t outstanding, but for the price, it’s worth a place on any TD fans’ home screen.

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