Version 1.0 of Fieldrunners arrived at the App Store back in October. At that time it was a great game but was without audio and only included a single map. Even with these shortcomings, the game was a huge success. Subatomic Studios has listened to their fans and brought version 1.1.1 down the pipeline with all sorts of game play enhancements and features. Could this single update bring new life to an already great iPhone/iPod Touch game? The answer is a resounding yes.
Fieldrunners may seem like your basic run-of-the-mill tower defense style game. The concept is simple, stop the invading infantry from getting through your fortress gates. The depth and longevity of each game is what really sets this one apart. A single game can last literally an hour, a rare occurrence on a portable gaming platform. There is no need to worry about finishing the game in a single sitting because the game saves automatically upon quitting so you can always just pick up where you left off. No lives are given, you just can’t allow 20 of the opposing infantry to enter your fortress, once you do the game is over.
The units consist of small grunt style troops to large mech robots and flying blimps. The pure range of the units is what makes the game so challenging. One round can consist of a whole bunch of troops on motorcycles that you must somehow slow down just to shoot them and the next round is loaded with tanks that barely move but require ridiculous amounts of firepower to take them down. When a unit is eliminated, you are compensated with money. The smaller units you get a single dollar for taking down and the large units you can receive up to twenty dollars. The money is then banked for you to purchase bigger and better equipment to slow down and eliminate the oncoming infantry.
The towers consist of four total units. A close range gattling gun, goo gun, missile tower and the tesla tower. The gattling gun is of course the cheapest of the units you can deploy. You can use these to create winding mazes to bombard your enemies with constant fire. Deploy the goo guns to slow down the troops to a grinding halt so your guns can be unleashed with full effectiveness. The missile tower is a bit more expensive but has splash damage and a longer range than the gatling guns. My favorite, the tesla tower clocks in at a whopping $70 which could break the bank but is a very powerful close range weapon. All of the towers can be upgraded at any time during the game. Each tower has three levels to upgrade. Each costing a portion of the original item cost which makes you have to decide, should you fill your battlefield with massive amounts of units to start or upgrade the units you already have? The developers at Subatomic Studios have created a very balanced ecosystem to play in, everything has a trump card.
Grasslands was the only map to ship with the original release of the game. It has a simple design, enemies come from the left, your fortress is located on the right. If you set up enough towers down the middle of the map you can stop most of the ground and aerial units without a problem. There are only so many ways you can play this map, that’s why the brand new map included with the update is a great addition.
Subatomic Studios has added another map with the update titled Crossroads. In the new map, units come from two separate sides of the screen and invade into two separate parts of your fortress. This new map adds all kinds of new twists. Since the units come from either side, it’s much more difficult to set up your defense towers, it’s especially hard to stop the invading aerial units.
To open up the new “endless mode” you must first beat the classic mode. Classic mode consists of 100 rounds of enemies. Each round becomes progressively more difficult with stronger and larger number of units. I was able to beat classic mode on the easy setting on my first play through. I had then attempted the medium setting, only to get to round 68. This is what we will call replay value. The player must learn from their mistakes. There is a hard setting but it is very difficult to take units down on this setting, they just seem to absorb every shot. Only true tower defense aficionados need apply on this setting.
Endless mode is more of the same, beat classic mode on any difficulty setting and you can unlock endless mode. Both maps are playable in endless mode and of course if you are a master of the game it is worth your time.
The controls work as expected. You are able to zoom in and out on the battlefield with a simple pinch or pull of your fingers. Drag and drop the towers located at the bottom of your screen to place them on the battlefield. To upgrade or sell a unit, simply highlight it and both options appear as long as the option is available. The only real difficulty with controlling the game was with a screen packed full of towers, it sometimes became difficult to select the correct tower but that is remedied simply by zooming in.
It is very important that I mention sound considering the original version didn’t have any at all. The theme song that plays in the menus fits right in. It definitely gears you up for some mini infantry slaughtering. The added sound effects were a much needed addition. It is almost sad hearing the little guys that you mow down with your gatling guns give a last squeak before you cash the money in that you earned from their lonely demise. Thank you Subatomic Studios for making me feel bad for killing nameless soldiers, that’s what I wanted from a game.
The real issue, the reason the game doesn’t get a perfect score, is still the lack of extra maps. I know that Subatomic Studios has technically doubled the maps and added all sorts of minor tweaks and even new units, but I still want more. The design path they have taken when creating Crossroads is a step in the right direction. A few more maps like this one would put a final stamp of greatness on Fieldrunners.
Fieldrunners is as close to perfection as you can get in the tower defense genre. I especially enjoyed the balanced game play. It looks, sounds and plays just as you would expect. I just hope there are a few more updates down the road to add more content before we get a Fieldrunners 2. I am elated to see a developer stay on their toes and not rest until most of their fans are pleased with the final product. Fieldrunners is a must have iPhone/iPod touch game.
Overall: 8.75 out of 10
i logged into itunes and bought this game just now. I don’t know why, but I didn’t think to look for Tower Defense games on my iPhone til you enlightened me here. TDs are my FAVORITE games. I am so stoked. Keep up the reviews dude, love the insight into the murky maze that is the app store.
@Ian – I hope you enjoy the game as much as I did. It needs more maps but it is a very polished game. I love reviewing App Store games, there is so much variety. At this rate we will have a new App Store game review every few days!