‘Fieldrunners’ Delivers a Very Polished Tower Defense Game
posted October 6th, 2008 12:19 AM EDT by arn in $4.99, Reviews, Strategy, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Subatomic Studios has released Fieldrunners [App Store], a $4.99 iPhone version of the Tower Defense strategy game.
For those who aren’t familiar, Tower Defense is a genre of strategy game in which your goal is to stop the enemies from crossing the map by building up your tower defenses:
Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities and costs. When an enemy is defeated the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers.
The choice and positioning of the towers is the essential strategy of the game
This version of the game gives you a blank field in which you must create your own maze by purchasing the available defense towers. There are 4 different types of towers and each can be upgraded multiple times.
- Gatling Tower - short range, cheap
- Goo Tower - slows enemy down
- Missile Tower - long range, good against air units
- Lightning Tower - powerful, expensive
While there exist other Tower Defense games in the App Store (Mote-M, iDefend Lite), none carry this level of graphics quality and overall polish. This game has already received rave reviews from readers in our forum.
The game offers 3 different levels of difficulty (Easy, Medium and Hard) and uses the iPhone’s touch screen quite well. You are able to pan across the field and even multi-touch pinch to zoom in and out. Each session offers a good amount of play and can easily last over 30 minutes. In light of this, it’s good to know that the game can be easily paused and resumed at any time.
Despite the general enthusiasm for the title, there are a few negatives. There is currently only one field so gameplay may get a bit repetitive. And there are no sound effects or music presently available.
The developer, however, is promising that there are a number of improvements planned that will address these shortcomings:
- New Maps
- Sound and Music
- New towers
- New fieldrunners
Fans of the Tower Defense genre will almost certainly enjoy this surprisingly well polished version of the game. Other, however, may want to wait until the promised upgrades (especially sound) arrive before making the plunge. With those features in place, I could see this game being very highly recommended.
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October 6th, 2008 at 12:21 am
I never really played any of the tower defense games, so forgive any strategy blunders from the gameplay video. It was amongst my first few games.
arn
October 6th, 2008 at 12:50 am
TD games are pretty addicting. Lots of fun as long as there’s sound, imo
If anyone wants to see how game play is of these games (for free) just Google “Desktop Defense” or go to http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/Game.asp
(BTW, My first post and I have to say I LOVE THIS WEBSITE!)
October 6th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Wow, I had no idea how much fun a game like this could be!
@ Fearless, thanks for the link. I bought this game based on how much fun I had playing that flash game.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Looks fun! When the updates are in place I reckon I’ll definitely be up for that.
Nice graphics, a bit Zelda-esque.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:10 am
this really is a great game. if you don’t mind not having sound, I’d say go ahead and get it. Even without sound, the gameplay is great. It’s just hard for me to fully recommend a title without sound effects.
arn
October 6th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I was waiting so long for a decent tw defense game! That’s Mine!
Definitely!
October 6th, 2008 at 6:37 am
… makes me want a version of Cannon Fodder
Fieldrunners’ pan/pinch/tap controls perfectly show that the iPhone has the capability to be a kick-ass little console for RTS games.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:17 am
This game is an absolute blast! I have always enjoyed TD games, so having such a well polished TD game on my phone is incredible!
I can’t wait until they add sound though.
Oh, and I second loving this website
I am addicted lol, I check it once an hour.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:26 am
After reading all the great reviews for a game that’s only been out one day. I went ahead and bought it. It’s awesome! I admit, sound can be a funny feature. I love clicking on the characters in Warcraft Forzen Throne! At the same time. I personally shut the sound off when playing on my ds, psp or phone so not having the sound doesn’t bother me very much. It’s so addicting and doesn’t even need sound!!!
I hope this game comes out for the 360 or wii!!
October 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
The level of detail in the graphics looks amazing. I’ve never seen a tower defense game that looks as polished as this one! Will definitely be purchasing this once they add sound. Hopefully it won’t take too long!!
October 6th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Well I guess I wait until it’s on sale like the other games on the store. Or at least after the first update. But on the other hand I want now another good game for my touch. And 4 Euro aren’t to much. :/
October 6th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
this game looks awesome, but….
But we cannot support developers who don’t finish their games. I don’t understand why they keep putting out unfinished games. Then saying we’ll fix them in later up dates.
I want to buy this game but I will not support this type of development.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Looks like this is an indie developer. It obviously looks like he has spent quite some time on this game already. Maybe releasing it now will give some income that will allow him to spend more time on this game and improve it.
As the game is right now, it is worth $5. If you agree, then buy it. In addition, as the developer improves the game, we get the updates. That’s great.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Is it pretty hard to get sound out of the iPhone SDK? I’m amazed how many games lack sound.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I think it’s safe to assume that playing sounds is straightforward.
I’d bet lack of sound in one-man no-budget indie projects like this has more to do with not having the sound/musical talent (hey, we can’t all be great at everything right?) to make them and no money to get them made.
Subatomic have probably decided to wait until they’ve sold a few copies to re-invest that money. It can’t be easy at all to bootstrap a videogame, so I admire them for what they have achieved.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I think it goes back to the fact that the last 20% takes 80% of the time. And it’s hard to stay motivated without feedback.
arn
October 6th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
@Nagromme
Adding sounds? Super easy. They might have been just short on funds to hire a sound guy. Not all these devs have million dollar budgets.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Sounds and music are on their way. The game is easily worth the asking price as is if you ask me. I agree that devs shouldn’t release games until they’re finished, but I can respect this dev’s approach a little. He’s been asking around on his website and even here for requests and ideas for the update and he’s very responsive. He seems all about making the game continually better.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
… So I reckon I’d better hold up my end of the bargain as a gamer.
Buying it now.
It’s great that we can help startups get their careers on the road. I’d call bullshit on the game’s current shortcomings if they were established devs, but I feel more generous toward the little guys
October 6th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Another great find by toucharcade! Bought this solely on the review and comments here. I can already see this will be my most played game next to Galcon. I also agree with Alex, the iphone is a fantastic platform for RTS and Turn Based Strategy games. (if only blizzard would port warcraft/warcraft2!)
Hats off to the developer on fieldrunners, it already looks and plays far better than nearly every iphone game out there. Keep up the development! How about a field editor in the future?
Cheers,
Ryan
October 6th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Fantastic game ! Very Unique. By far in my top 5 games.
Thank you, Toucharcade.
You are my crack, and i love it.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I also bought based on the reviews and it is GREAT! Even sans sound effects. Well worth $5, with sound I’d pay $10! and I have bought a few lesser titles at $9.99. The animation is very nice and so is the interface.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Looks promising, will buy as soon as the price goes down to $0.99. I will not buy any more games at their “full” price as I get so pissed off when 2 days later the price is lowered for no apparent reason.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:26 am
I love these games, but I’m going to hold out till the sound is there. Trust me Mr Dev, you got a customer waiting to jump on board
October 7th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Its a great game and well made however i find the path finding code very poor. You really cant trick the AI to split up. Basically they follow perfectly in unison until they reach the end… which is fine but those of us used to Warcraft 3 Tower Defense maps…. Part of the fun of it was to guide the flow of enemies creatively. This could sometimes split the enemies into 2 different pathways as they move towards their goal.
Its a great game, and well done… also very hard. It needs sounds and better path finding AI that allows creative controlling of the flow of enemies.
The other problem i have is MAP size. Its a good map size but its also very limiting in terms of creatively building a maze. There really isnt enough X and Y grid units (spaces) to do a whole lot with.
So i hope in adition to the map that comes with the game… we will see a map editor, and additional default levels. Multiplayer would be great too. Thats a huge part of Tower D.
Its topnotch despite my comments and with more developement it will really shine as one hell of an app. Good job Dev… keep it up and keep updating!
October 7th, 2008 at 11:39 am
same thoughts as [2Kitties1Cup]
i play lots of starcraft UMS (user map settings)
tower defense and this is REALLY GOOD!!!
the suggestions above which 2Kitties1Cup gave,
this could be the game of the year.
5 stars!!! GREAT GAMEPLAY & GRAPHICS
October 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Great game! I haven’t played this type of game before, and I found it easy to pick up play. Didn’t want to put it down. And I wouldn’t have found it if not for this site.
Thanks
October 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hey Guys! I’ve got a review up on my site: http://appruv.com of the game. I’ve been in contact with the developer and a new version is on its way that will answer a lot of the problems people are having with the game. I’m guessing lack of sound tops that list because I couldn’t find anything else to complain about, the game is awesome and definitely worth getting!
October 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Having bought it now I thought I’d throw in my two cents’ worth.
It’s BRILLIANT. Looking forward to update, but BUY IT NOW!!!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Bought it. Loving it.
Great game + great sound = fantastic game.
Great game + no sound = great game.
Get over it.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
This is easily my favorite iPhone game. It needs sound, obviously, and online scoring would be nice.
So engrossing.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
227,550 - wave 55.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
422950 wave 89 (medium)
October 9th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Ok. It’s on.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I posted this in the forum:
464, 350 on wave 99 (medium)
The VERY LAST helicopter flying through go me the game over. I was stunned.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Activision’s Battlezone (1998), a real-time strategy / FPS game felt very much like this as far as laying out defenses — turrets, etc. Though, in Battlezone, the player could be part of the unfolding battle in FPS vehicle-based style.
One of the best games I ever played.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
@ arn
i would like to see the screenshot of your formation/tactics to even get to lvl 89 -422950
i got to wave 59 - 368775 (HARD)
only 422950? i think you’re lying
October 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am
ya, after playing hard a few more times, I think I was mistaken. I tink it was lvl 89 on medium.
sorry.
arn
November 20th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
775400 Hard