Pong and Beyond

190th played so far

Genre: Strategy
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Subatomic Studios
Publisher: Subatomic Studios

Game 200 really feels incredibly close now. I can’t quite believe that are now reaching that 20% or 1-in-5. The whole idea that in little under two years we have reached such a milestone.

One type of game that we have a lot of remaining on this list is under the rather dubious grouping of “various” which basically any game that has majorly appeared on more than three platforms. Fieldrunners is such a game and for this blog we are playing the iOS version on iPad.

Our Thoughts

This is not our first time at the tower defense rodeo. Many a moon ago we reviewed Desktop Tower Defense so any of you that have been keeping up with this blog or are just fans of this type of game will know how this goes but for those who do not here is a brief summary. You are defending something off screen and using the cash you have earned from killing enemies you buy a bunch of different towers to prevent the many waves of opponents from destroying your base.

As ideas go it’s a pretty damned simple one which has meant that there are literally hundreds (if ot thousands) of these games in existence. So why has Fieldrunners earned a place on this coveted list?

One thing that I really liked was the variety of towers available which are all upgradable in order to increase their strength, range and rate of firing. Some highlights are the goo gun, which slow down enemies, and the lightning gun which is like a large Tesla coil. Also on offer are more standard tower defense guns such as a gating gun and a rocket launcher.

The towers are quite interesting and, combined with the many different unique enemies (in a 100 round game, you see about 10 to 12 of them. The graphics, while not brilliant, are nice as well, and make for clear unique pictures to distinguish them even on lower resolutions. The interface itself could do with some clarification – the upgrades aren’t immediately obvious – but most of it is very straight forward.

It’s not the most difficult game – while it’s time consuming, the game is fairly easy to beat – but it’s a fun distraction that works well enough as a good example of the game. And I’m sure the challenge will follow on the higher game modes, which I didn’t get around to yet.

Final Thoughts

I don’t know enough about this type of games to put in a further comparison – it’s hard to see where this game innovates in the genre, but what I can safely say is that it’s a good, solid example of the genre, which makes for a solid diversion when you want it. An exemplar, possibly, more than an innovator. But those, too, are good.