There are about 10 different zones each split into 10 levels, so there is plenty of levels to play through. The levels do increase in difficulty but they do throw in a few curve balls to really stress you out. Obstacles include extra bouncy blocks that send your balls off the screen, spinning blades, lasers, doors, bombs and eventually evil space pirates.

The grunge style spaceship graphics are nice enough and do have a 3D ‘ish’ feel. The deep mechanical music has an ambient and slightly scary feel whereas the sound effect are much more modern and high tech.

The puzzle element is quite addictive as on some levels you have to bounce your Terrorball of various platforms to access the transporter, other require precision arches and some you just have to fire a tonne of balls to blast your way through.

Overall, the game is a solid a fun journey and whilst some levels are relatively easy there are some which will stump you for ages. The star collection is ok and there is an internal achievements table but this could have easily been connected to game center achievements to add an additional pull. There are plenty of levels which is good and we found it easier to play on a iPad a double the screen size. I think an iPad version of this game would be better received.

Its a solid game which will keep you entertained for a fair few hours and although it’s not the best trajectory game out there it’s well worth a play.

iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/terrorballs/id564783785?mt=8

The post Review: Terrorballs Space Puzzle Action appeared first on AppTrawler.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch developer Koei has obviously (and appropriately) read that ancient military guidebook and learned its vital lessons.

While the game only ever shows you static screens of information and abstract representations of feudal Chinese armies, you’re fully deceived into thinking you’re a 2nd-century warlord.

Spend ten minutes with it and you may as well write the next couple of hours off because this truly is one of the most engrossing experiences on the App Store.

Pick a caste, any caste

You begin by selecting from five consecutive periods of Chinese history spanning the end of the 2nd-century through to the middle of the 3rd. Each is tied to an important historical event, such as an influential political figure being overthrown or the start of a major conflict.

Next, you pick from a number of factions vying for supremacy. Even at this early stage you’re given pause for thought, as you must weigh up which faction to choose based on size, geography, resources and military strength.

Do you, for example, go for the dominant power (early on at least) of Dong Zhuo, rich in gold and land but somewhat unwieldy and surrounded by aggressive enemies, or do you opt for Sun Jian to the southeast – a small, relatively poor lord, but isolated from his enemies in a corner of the map that’s ripe for non-violent expansion?

Whoever you choose to command, your ultimate goal is the same: overthrow every last competing faction.

Chinese democracy

This is no Command & Conquer-style real-time strategy game, though. Unrestrained aggression will lead to swift defeat.

Instead, you have to take time to build your empire by increasing productivity, which determines how much gold and food you receive every twelve turns. These two resources are the foundation of everything you do in the game, funding your military endeavours and keeping your people in check.

Once your coffers are filled the possibilities really open up. Using your officers you can implement a range of commands. As such, officers are rated according to their abilities in war, charisma, intelligence, and age (they can die of natural causes).

In addition to utilising their unique talents, you also have to keep them happy with regular rewards. Enemy-initiated rumours can sap loyalty, increasing the chances of defection, along with the troops under their command.

It’s worth remembering that anything your enemy can do to you, you can do to them. If you want to destabilise a prosperous opponent then you can dispatch one of your officers to sow seeds of doubt among the populace or sabotage their food crops.

You can even entice opposing officers to your side, if their loyalty is sufficiently low and your offer too good to refuse.

Command and conquer

Once you’ve built up a sizeable force and a healthy stock of both gold and food, you can start to think about direct engagement. This section of the game plays out as a turn-based strategy game in the mould of Advance Wars or Mecho Wars.

While far from rivalling the aforementioned games in terms of depth, battles add a welcome dose of action to an otherwise cerebral game. Sneaking in to steal my numerically superior opponent’s supply base after artfully drawing them out ranks as one of my most gratifying gaming moments of recent months.

Strategic blunders

Given its depth and scope, it’s perhaps unsurprising that something has been lost in the game’s touchscreen translation. While menus are laid out well, the dispersal of relevant information can be maddeningly counter-intuitive.

For example, when seeking to employ a new officer you would hope that you’d be able to obtain each candidate’s stats through the “employ” command branch.

Touching on the officer here, though, merely selects them. You have to back out of the menus, scroll to the “info” pane and select the “all officers” command, examine the information, then return to the “employ” screen to make your selection.

Navigation of the core map is also a little inconsistent, slow in scrolling and zooming but skittish when skimming across the regions.

Imperial splendor

It’s a testament to the quality of the game’s core systems – the yin and yang of decision making, the surprising variation in battle tactics, the elegant presentation and the historical intrigue – that such flaws don’t ever threaten to stop you from returning to Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch.

It’s a tough, punishing and demanding experience that won’t be to everyone’s tastes – even some of those who would consider themselves fans of previous iPhone strategy titles. Those with the patience to mine its depths, though, will be richly rewarded for their loyalty.

The post Review: Romance of the Three Kingdoms appeared first on AppTrawler.

As with any typical RTS game, the objective is to build a community, establishing a means of income, develop a powerful military, and expand territories. The Settlers, however, is less about tactical micromanagement and more about strategic planning. In many ways, The Settlers is a game focused on urban planning where the placement and construction of buildings play heavily in your success. Unlike many of today’s RTS games, direct control of individual or groups of units is limited. You literally establish a virtual society where your vision will set it down the path to success or failure. This premise alone makes The Settlers worth considering especially for newcomers to the series.

As expected, Gameloft has done an impressive job with visuals in The Settlers. From the buildings to the animations and actions of individuals, The Settlers provides an enjoyable viewing experience. Even the random fluttering butterflies, foraging forest animals or the crashing waves seem to bring just the right amount of personality. To further the immersive experience, the sound effects are particularly well done from the birds chirping to battle cries. One minor issue is the soundtrack, which is short and noticeably irritating when it loops, although you can play your own music if you choose.

The Settlers consists of 4 tribes— Roman, Viking, Mayan and Dark Tribe —each with a series of mission-based campaigns. The most extensive set is the 12-mission campaign against Dark Tribe where you play as each of the tribes in campaigns to conquer them. Unfortunately, a free play mode isn’t included, though the length of included missions should take significant time to complete, and unlocked missions can be replayed at any time. Auto save is also included along with 5 save slots which is a necessity for a game of this length and depth.

The game boasts an intimidating 35-screen help section which is your first indication of the great depth in The Settlers. These screens are categorized into 8 sections: Buildings, Goods Flow, New Colony, Settlers, Warriors, War Machines, Alcohol, and Magic. The game’s tutorial does a good job walking you through the basics. Each mission is introduced with a cut screen providing a story background followed by objectives which are well thought out.

With all that it’s involved in The Settlers, the user interface is adequately laid out even though it may feel cluttered for some. Like most RTS games, certain things need to happen in a certain way before being able to do something else. For example, to tap into resources such as gold, you’ll need to recruit geologists, send them out to survey a site, build a gold mine, a gold smelter to process, and then a weaponsmith to make tools and weapons. In many cases, you’ll need to have tools made such as shovels and pickaxes to before The Settlers can proceed with their work.

Building and placing structures is rather simple. Once a structure is selected from the Building menu, a series of dots will appear on the screen. These are the locations on which the new structure can be located. It’s here that you can watch the little tribesmen work, and the animation really makes it interesting to watch. Of course, you can also fast forward through the process if you want to the speed up the game. Once a structure is placed, statistics can be viewed by tapping on it. For example, a gold smelting building will show how much is produced, while a tower will indicate the number of troops.

The Settlers has a different dynamic which you will either love or hate when it comes to the moving settlers since many are not under the player’s control. When a unit is controllable by a player, they can be selected either by tapping, drawing a square using a pinch motion around a group of settlers, or accessing the Find Settler button. Once selected, tapping on a specific location will create a flag which serves as the meeting point, and the selected settlers will move accordingly. One of the small issues is that settlers you control will tend to revert back to what they were doing no matter where you want them to go, so control is a relative term. Some characters such as the carrier, digger and builder automatically perform their tasks and cannot be controlled. For those new to the game, the limited amount of control can be frustrating especially since these settlers can move rather slowly.

Gameloft has provided this tutorial video to show how to play the game:

Battles can be fun as you recruit and train troops and then watch the ensuing fight. But keep in mind, beyond directing the direction of troop movements, there are no tactical decisions to be made during a battle. Besides magic, there are several war machines available based on the tribe. These include Roman catapults, Mayan firespitters, and Viking Warships, which create visually eye catching damage during battles.

After initially not being too high on the gameplay, I found myself enjoying the game more as I progressed. Personally, I prefer the ability to control the movements of the people in my virtual community, and can see this being an issue for those who fall in the same camp. Long time Settlers fans however point out that such micromanagement was never the focus of the early versions of the game.

Because the game is focused on strategic planning and less so on micromanagement, the enjoyment level may vary based on your personal preferences as you’ll spend a fair share of time watching rather doing. As a result, I found the game can be a mix of fun and frustration. Regardless of your previous experience, however, the game does offer a solid and deep experience with beautiful graphics. The missions and the maps are elaborate enough to offer hours of play, bringing enough to separate itself from other games in the genre.

The post Review: The Settlers appeared first on AppTrawler.

If you were a PC gamer in the mid 90’s, the very mention of Command & Conquer likely brings back memories of massive battles, elaborate bases, the cumbersome Westwood Online multiplayer, and best of all- The game coming with two discs to give one to a friend to play against without having to buy a second copy of the game. Westwood was eventually acquired by EA, and through numerous sequels and spin-offs there have been over 30 million copies sold across the franchise.

Command & Conquer Red Alert [App Store] like the other games in the Red Alert family takes place in an alternate universe where World War II never occurred thanks to some time traveling trickery by Albert Einstein which resulted in the Soviet Union rising to power due to the Allies never developing nuclear weaponry. Unfortunately, the iPhone game doesn’t do much to convey this fascinating game setting, but other games in the series that do a better job of this are worth checking out if you’re an alternate history fiction fan.

The controls in Command & Conquer Red Alert work shockingly well. I consider myself real time strategy fan, but there are not only few of these games on the App Store, but even fewer that have controls that make for fun gameplay. The user interface has remained constant since the preview we did early last month:

The screen is framed with all kinds of interface elements, and while seeming slightly cluttered, everything works well enough and I never felt like the controls were getting in the way of what I wanted to do in the game. The battlefield can be zoomed using standard pinching gestures, and to change your field of view you can either swipe your finger around the screen or touch the mini map in the top right corner.

Lining the right side of the screen are all the buttons and menus for building your base as well as training units. Just like the PC version, units can be queued up to train multiples at once. Placing a new building in your base is as simple as tapping it from the “build” menu, at which point a grid appears on top of the terrain and your building can be placed with familiar green and red highlighting indicating valid placement.

Once you’ve got your army built, you can organize units in to three squads assigned to the three buttons on the left hand side of the screen. To select units, you can either tap them to select individual units, or by tapping a button on the bottom left corner of the screen you can drag a selection box around units on the battlefield. From there, another button on the bottom of the screen allows you to assign your current selection of units to one of the three buttons on the left side of the screen.

The graphics and sound in Command & Conquer Red Alert are absolutely phenomenal. Everything is rendered in beautiful 3D graphics, and some of my favorite tracks from other Red Alert games have made their way in to the iPhone version. In these two categories, the game excels.

However, like most games from long-standing franchises that wind up on the iPhone, Command & Conquer Red Alert is substantially trimmed down. On one hand, this is without a doubt among the best RTS games available on the platform, but on the other, the game is very minimal and when I step back from my incredibly fond nostalgia of the Red Alert series, it seems like a .99 vessel to sell downloadable content packs.

The amount of content the game itself comes with is disappointing, to the point that I didn’t mention it in the preview as I was fairly certain they were going to add more in to the game when it was finally released. Unfortunately, it has remained the same. Without looking to the in-game store, the content in Command & Conquer Red Alert is limited to two brief campaigns which feel more like tutorials and two skirmish maps you can play against an AI opponent.

The single .99 DLC pack which is available with the launch of the game offers six additional skirmish maps and a couple extra units. In the future EA plans on releasing a free update to add local multiplayer via WiFi or bluetooth, but currently you’re stuck playing these maps against an AI controlled army that has no difficulty adjustment– likely creating gameplay that will be boring to veterans of the genre and frustrating to newcomers.

So in the end, how much you enjoy Command & Conquer Red Alert will largely depend on what you expect out of the game. For an iPhone game, EA does a great job with the controls and stellar music and graphics make watching and listening to the game much more fun. Unfortunately, the game does feel remarkably bite sized, with neither very much content nor much replay value without buying more maps via DLC. And launching a .99 game with a {content}.99 DLC just doesn’t sit well, especially when the downloadable packs don’t feel as optional as they should be.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

We generally try to avoid discussing game pricing, as everyone feels differently on what is and isn’t an acceptable price for a game. It just seems to me, that if you’re launching your game at the top-end of the App Store pricing spectrum, it shouldn’t require an additional DLC pack for gamers to feel like they’re experiencing a more complete game– especially in a Command & Conquer game which historically have come with an unbelievable amount of maps.

If you can get around feeling nickel and dimed buying what seems like something that should have been included in the initial version of the game, Command & Conquer Red Alert is great. Unfortunately, with how little content is included, I’d suggest waiting to see how the multiplayer updates pan out.

App Store Link: Command & Conquer Red Alert, .99

The post Out Now: Command & Conquer Red Alert appeared first on AppTrawler.

On the contrary, it’s a frightening ability for the characters in Sliding Heroes. Though highly original, this accelerometer-controlled strategy game proves just how unwieldy any sliding superhero would be.

To be frank, using nothing but tilting to control your characters doesn’t really deliver the goods when it comes to actual gameplay.

You control an army consisting of four character classes: Warrior, Mage, Cleric, and Lancer. After summoning your desired unit, tilting your handset sends them rolling in the corresponding direction. When they run into an enemy, your forces attack.

The idea is to clear the board of all foes and occasionally a boss to unlock the exit. Getting there with at least one of your squad is enough to move on to the next stage.

The monsters themselves are initially varied, some landbound, some keeping to the skies. Like your own units, they too have their own strengths and weaknesses. As such, the game is all about deploying the right class to take out monsters susceptible to their kind of attacks.

It’s fairly basic stuff, navigating through each level and matching up your targets with the correct unit the backbone of play, but none of this is helped by the fact that the controls are sluggish. It takes too long for the game to respond to your tilts.

Precision is also called for, purple pools sapping your health away and holes in the ground swallowing units. It’s not uncommon to get caught up in unseen level furniture, too. The whole process of moving your band of battlers around – which, remember, is your one and only action during play – is a constant frustration.

Objects within the levels are meant to be used as a tool for dividing units into smaller, more manageable groups for battle. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work because you’re unable to control any one unit or group at a time. Organising groups does you no good because you’re always moving every unit on the board.

Incorporating the ability to select units manually by roping them with a gesture or executing a multi-touch box would great improve things. Groups could then be drafted and controlled individually with tactics in mind. Instead, you end up fighting against the controls and babysitting your own units more than actually battling enemies.

The end result is a condescending, almost insulting, non-entity that would serve as a nifty bonus round but is a bit vacuous for a strategy game. Suddenly invisibility, at least in Sliding Heroes case, seems like the obvious choice.

The post Review: Sliding Heroes appeared first on AppTrawler.

We’re sure there are plenty of ways the line-drawing genre can expand in future.

The latest game – 33rd Division – brings an interesting twist into play. It’s set in WWII, but your role is non-aggressive, as you have to escort Allied soldiers through various enemy patrols and defensive positions to safety.

There are three different units – soldier, medic or sergeant – each of which moves at a different speed and provides you with a different quantity of reward points.

Options include collecting power-ups along the way, such as double-speed, enemy freeze and score bonus, while the enemy will power up too with mortar and sudden death attacks.

In total, there are four missions to work your way through, and you can compare your progress with the rest of the world via the OpenFeint social network.

33rd Divsion is out now, priced 99c, €0.79, 59p. Hit the ‘Buy It!’ button to be deployed overseas.

The post WWII Line drawer – 33rd Division appeared first on AppTrawler.

Just in case you are new to tower defense games, the basic idea is to build towers along the path of your enemies in order to destroy them before they reach the end. There have been countless tower defense games on the market, each one offering something unique. This game does just that, putting forth yet another interesting concept. The maps are described as “whimsical forests”, and the enemies as “ghoulish creatures.” There really is no other way to describe it. The enemies range from tiny foot soldiers to flying monsters and they always arrive in groups of the same type. There is always a predefined set of rounds you must fight through in order to win the level. The first few rounds are always easiest. As the rounds progress, the enemies become harder to defeat, requiring you to upgrade your towers. The first unique aspect about Moonlight Minions is that the enemies don’t just travel across the screen. They each have special abilities that you must take into account if you want to win. For example, some creatures can teleport, heal or destroy your towers. This adds special challenges not found in other tower defense games.

My first complaint with this game is the lack of tower choices. There are only six towers to choose from. Four of them are attack towers, one will slow the enemy down and the last one reveals creatures that would otherwise be invisible. All the towers resemble some sort of plant, which adds to the whole whimsical forest theme. The attack towers fire small projectiles, large fireballs and bolts of electricity. The fourth tower actually shoots spike up from the ground.

Each of these towers is upgradeable and may also be sold for some money back. The towers are all unique and fun to build. However, the lack of towers is definitely one of the weaker aspects of the game and should be expanded upon in the next update.

The bottom of the screen will display each upcoming wave of enemies. I guess this may help you prepare for what’s to come, but I rarely pay any attention to it. This same area includes a way to speed up the waves of enemies for extra points. There is also a button to unleash your special weapon, whether that is an earthquake, lightning bolt or meteor shower.

The graphics and animations in Moonlight Minions are high quality and, combined with great music and sound effects, really do immerse you into this fantasy world of ghouls and goblins. Each time I played this game my senses were engaged and flooded with quality sound effects, eerie music and beautifully animated environments and characters. You cannot zoom in or out as in most tower defense games, but this really didn’t bother me too much.

There are so many positives in this game that it’s a shame it has been released with so many bugs. There are some issues with crashing and glitches that can’t be ignored. For example, I experienced enemies that seem to skip around the map a bit as if there was lag. I also had a problem where it wouldn’t let me move a tower to exactly where I wanted it. Restarting the level solved this issue. Controls are generally intuitive, but there was one other issue I had with tower upgrades. At times, I tried to upgrade a tower and accidentally sold it. The buttons are in the same area and if you tap on a tower slightly off screen, you only see the “sell” side instead of the upgrade side.

When the developer fixes the bugs and adds more content to the game, Moonlight Minions will definitely become a top tower defense title. Even as it stands now, I strongly recommend picking this one up.

The post Review: Moonlight Minions appeared first on AppTrawler.

Last weekend we took a look at a preview release of React Games‘ Archon Conquest and, as fans of the 25 year old EA original, we liked what we saw.  The game has since gone live in the App Store [link] and we’ve spent a bit more time with this variation on the studio’s remake of the chess-like action strategy game.

Back in June, React brought a revamped take on EA’s 1983 classic Archon [App Store] to the iPhone. Archon is an action / strategy game set on a 9×9 chess-like board arrayed with a variety of Light and Dark game pieces, each with its own set of battle attributes.  When two pieces come face-to-face on the same board square, action turns to the battle arena where the enemies do battle, arcade style.  The winner takes the square.

Archon Conquest stays close to the original formula, but in place of the chess board setting is a variety of different environments in which to play — four maps or campaigns with 60 different quests or puzzles to complete in all.  As mentioned in our preview, Archon Conquest looks visually closer to EA’s 1984 sequel, Archon II: Adpet, but the similarity ends there.  It’s still a matter of controlling power squares or wiping out the enemy wholesale, but in new, obstacle-laden environments.

Archon Conquest allows the player to earn medals on each quest, depending on overall success and tracks skill through (Plus+) online leaderboards.  Power characters can cast spells, including new spells as compared to the original, and characters can level up and collect various power-ups in the combat arena.

The differing available characters through the game’s various quests, along with the need to negotiate the new board environments, mixes the game up tangibly from the more ordered gameplay of the original.  It feels very much like the new take on Archon that it is, and as a big fan of the original, I find it pleasantly refreshing.  There’s definitely more long-term playability here than in the classic title. In fact, the full play time is estimated at 16 hours to complete all four maps.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Those familiar and fond of the original should find the variety that Archon Conquest brings a welcome twist on a solid formula.  And, thanks to the variation that the game brings (not to mention a lower cost of entry), those who’ve never commanded the Light or the Dark before might just find React’s latest to be more appealing than classic Archon.

Wherever you fall, if a well-balanced fusion of action and strategy sounds appealing, you’d do well to give Archon Conquest a try.

App Store Link: Archon Conquest, {content}.99

The post Archon Conquest: Strategic Battler appeared first on AppTrawler.

You play the part of a soldier tasked with protecting your base by trying to destroy your enemies Nuclear Reactors before they do the same to you.

You start by building your base. You can build walls to protect and hide your nuclear reactors before battle commences. Once you start the fight you cannot rebuild your defences (atleast not in the earlier levels as for the later ones I am unsure).

Combat is played out as you sit in your base firing your weapon which is a sling shot that fires bombs at the enemy base (which can be seen in the distance). You need to destroy their base before they can destroy yours.  There is a river in front of you, and if you destroy boats going accross you get power ups, you also get power ups by destroying blimps that you see flyng past in the distance.

Your sling shot is pre loaded and you simply pull it back (by dragging your finger on the touch screen) and releasing it, how far you pull back the sling shot and the direction in which you pull it depends on the direction and range of your attack. Most power ups are activated automatically as your next shot however there are others that can be used as and when required.

Your mission progresses when you have destroyed the enemy base, this is done by destroying their three nuclear reactors (before they destroy yours).

Graphically the game initially exceeds what you would expect from a 59p ($0.99) app however after a few plays you notice some out of place nast graphics (looking at you enemies trying to escape the enemy base). Having said that that this type of thing does not usually affect my enjoyability, its just a little weird to see a mixture of very good and bad graphics on the same screen.

The audio is really great , a rousing soundtrack and the sounds of explosions are different depending on your ammo and suit the game brilliantly.

Game play wise there is a feeling after playing once that you might never pick it up again, indeed the first time I played it I put it down and only tried it again for review purposes. My main problem was the accuracy of the sling shot and feeling like I was not in total control, there is an initial feeling that you have to fire as many shots as possible as fast as possible. Additional play time proved very rewarding indeed. The trick behind being successfull is realised by aquiring as many power ups as you can and using them wisely.  In the throwing of normal bombs can be hit and miss but if you get a nuke its very much worth it taking the extra time to make sure you hit your target. I quickly played through a number of levels and eventually enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take more notes during play time for the review (oops).

Looks:       There is an unfortunate mix of good and bad graphics but it has little ill effect on this app.
Controls: A little difficult to master but intuitive after a few games, before long you will be very used to it.
Sound:      A great soundtrack and nce in game noises, well suited fr the game.
Overall:   This really is a slow burner however with a few slight issues I would still reccomend this game to anyone, but you need to put a little effort in the get the controls right.  At the price point its a bargain and I will be looking forward to this developers future games.

The post Review: Slingers appeared first on AppTrawler.

The studio that brought a revamp of Free Fall Associates’ classic ’80s strategy / arcade game Archon [App Store] to the iPhone is about to release a separate single-player spin-off title that should give fans of the game much to enjoy.

Upcoming Archon Conquest features four maps to play, 60 different quests or puzzles to complete, and a storyline that ties it all together.  Fans of the series may note that some of the maps are reminiscent of the layout of Archon II: Adept, but the similarity ends at the visual level.  Still, it’s a nice expansion of an already great game.

We’ve captured some early gameplay from the pre-release, preview build of the game that React was kind enough to send us.  Have a look at the action.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Archon Conquest will appear in the App Store shortly at a price of .99.

React is also putting the finishing touches on the v1.9 update to classic Archon for the iPhone, which should hit the App Store about the same time as Conquest.  This update will bring a complete re-work of the touch control system as well as various AI enhancements.  And the further-out v2.0 update of Archon will add multiplayer to the mix.  Stay tuned.

Both Archon v1.9 and Archon Conquest now feature Plus+ leaderboards and award systems.

Another piece of news for fans of the game is that React is bringing a four-player adaptation of classic Archon to the PC, featuring multiplayer support as well as a choice of classic 8-bit or redesigned artwork. After 25 years, the game returns to the desktop.  Pre-orders for the PC version start on October 15th at React’s website.

The post Archon Conquest’ & ‘Archon’ Update appeared first on AppTrawler.