Siegecraft Review
PROS
- Unique environments that challenge your ability to adapt.
- Content unlocked from the get-go; tackle the 'campaign' or go for broke endless-style.
- Fun, unlockable 'ammunition' to add variety to the game.
CONS
- Slow paced gameplay; siege weapons are slow, but everything else seems to follow the same slow beat.
- Relatively twitchy controls; turn off aiming assist at your own peril.
VERDICT
Siegecraft goes to show just how programmed we've become when it comes to flinging objects at things to destroy them; while on one hand there's satisfaction in a well-timed shot, there's not enough actually happening to make the game truly exciting.
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- App Store Info
For the sake of posterity and for those who arrive at this review well after it goes online, Siegecraft by Blowfish Studios and Crescent Moon Games arrived during an eventful week resulting in it almost floundering. This isn't because it was ignored, but rather because it was released just before iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S, both of which being the optimal requirements for playing this game.
Performance patches have helped to smooth things out for fourth gen iDevices, but it's clear this game wanted to set a high standard and nothing less than the best would do.
So what do players get for all this overhead? Siegecraft is, much like you'd expect, a game involving sieges - in particular you must defend various objectives (in a neat twist, very few are actual castles) by deploying deadly volleys from a catapult or a crossbow. This may involve anything from simply destroying enemies outright, to destroying key landmarks to prevent their advancement.
Despite being in a 3D environment, very little about the controls will be unfamiliar to those used to the average catapult title like Angry Birds. Aiming and firing are determined by holding down on one of the two weapons and dragging away from it to set the angle and power. A reticule will show you where your shot is likely to land - this can be turned off to earn a triple 'coin' bonus.
As with any skill-based game, practice helps to even the odds when trying to conquer additional objectives for 'stars' on each level. These cut-offs range from time taken to accuracy and your overall score, with coins being rewarded to be spent on upgrades for each of your weapons. Unless you're a crack shot without the aiming reticule, this becomes yet another grind.
Of note are the two endless modes with the player taking down a zombie horde or more traditionally defending a castle. Most basic maps feel too slow to remain exciting, however the endless maps can provide a level of challenge that otherwise feels missing.
If anything, Siegecraft's real success is in its novelty of level design, packing in various situations such as defending a harbor; a critical valley chokepoint; or even assaulting an enemy stronghold. Unfortunately the game lacks the real weight of impact or pacing to grab a players attention beyond a full clear.
Screenshots
$0.99
