While I dig the TD concept in general, I found this one to not be all that interesting. Not enough variety in towers or upgrades, I think.

Of course, I only played it for one weekend.

I'm new to TD, but after playing/getting addicted to Tap Defense, Fieldrunners showed me what TD is capable of on the iPhone - totally addictive!

Congrats!

I'm new to TD, but after playing/getting addicted to Tap Defense, Fieldrunners showed me what TD is capable of on the iPhone - totally addictive!

Congrats!

not to say it was undeserved. The authors put lots of time into making beautiful graphics, and it is a gem in the app store.

Cool that they got recognition from a publication of that level, but I gotta say, that's a pretty bad list of the TOP games of '08. A web-based flash game places No. 8 and Fallout 3 is not even on the list?! :-/

This game is incredible. I guess it really has set the bar for iPhone gaming, and deserves a spot on the list. This will sell a lot more units too now, so I'm sure subatomic won't be too upset about this =p. I'm proud to say I'm one of the memers of the first group that bought this game, thanks to people letting us know about it on this site

Congratulations!

It must be hard to pick just one iPhone game to single out, but they selected a worth contender.

Wow. Maybe this will encourage other devs to release incomplete, shallow - but PRETTY - games.

What the (insert pretty much any swear here.)!!!???

It really makes my blood boil to see such terrible games get such high praise.

How about some quality games?

... dang the games sucked this year...

let's see... Brawl... meh... it was overrated... uhhh... MKWii... better... but still doesn't really warrant itself a spot on the top 10 list... Galaxy would be at the top but that was released last year...

World of Goo!

There's a game that deserves to be on a top 10 list! Very creative and challenging with great replay value! But... but...

well, TIME just isn't the best judge of video games I guess.

Regardless of what one might think of the game itself (and I spent far more hours than I'd like to admit playing it), this is huge mainstream validation of the iPhone as a gaming platform. Apple couldn't have asked for better publicity than this.

Would be great if the company celebrated with a free download of it for the day *HINT HINT*

Yaknow, I'd totally buy this game if it wasn't $5. To me, this kind of game isn't worth any more than $2. While it's probably one of the better ones out there, the genre just doesn't interest me enough.

I find it hilarious that people accuse Time of not putting in the games THEY thought were top 10, so therefore must be wrong.

Fieldrunners can actually become quite addictive.

Of course the list will be subjective, but just because YOU don't like the game doesn't mean it's automatically no good.

Personally, I don't care what games they put in the list. And I do think it's great that an iPhone game made the top ten. But FIELDRUNNERS? This is a game that, when released, had a SINGLE level. And just STOPPED after 100 waves of enemies. Compared to the other TD games in the App Store it's shallow - only two maps, no sandbox mode, no branching upgrade paths, only four tower types - and expensive. The ONLY thing it has over the other TD games? It's pretty.

So, like I said - maybe this will encourage other devs to release incomplete, shallow - but PRETTY - games. I can't wait.

Fieldrunners is a fantastic game but come on..... top 10? Maybe stictly on mobile devices and even then .... they're missing Fallout 3, MGS4, not to mention that they maybe should of waited for simcity on the ipod to come out =.

@mavis,

i feel your frustration with fieldrunners. it is a smoke screen of pretty. but i disagree with your saying that this is a bad thing for the future quality of iphone games. so far, people have cut iphone games some major slack on the graphics quality (aka 'pretty' in your words) since, well it's still a novelty and it's on a phone. but if the iphone really wants to compete with the DS and PSP, games MUST look pretty. i think it is a great thing that the 'pretty' games are getting attention because, yes, that will raise the bar and force all dev's to aspire to DS/PSP levels of graphic polish. once a high level of graphics is established, gameplay and so forth can be the competitive determining factor between games. i'm excited about the future of iphone gaming, where the minimum graphics quality requirement is something 'pretty' like fieldrunners, and the gameplay and depth only progresses and deepens there on out.

I think this is a case of TD virgins screwing up the test case. When I found TD I was like ahh, I really like this new genre. My first TD game was Pixel Junk: Monsters, an unbelievably good TD game. (Playstation 3 store if you're interested)

I just don't like Fieldrunners. Not enough upgrades or towers, and with 100 waves it gets boring, and I stop caring, and just start hoping please be over soon.

I played Beseigement and got many more hours gameplay out of it. It's freakin' tough, I don't think it's possible to "gold" the last two levels in story.

If you REALLY like Tower Defense, get yourself to the source and get some custom maps on Warcraft III. I was a bit burned out on the genre years ago.

Or you could go back further to something like Herzog Zwei (Sega Genesis) or Herzog(MSX) or the awesome Rescue Raiders(Apple ][) Those have the player in the mix that Pixel Junk: Monsters gets a lot of credit for. Of course TD maps for Warcraft III have had that for years as well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denigrating the new stuff in any way. I love seeing this stuff go mainstream because it means more people are enjoying it and I like to check out new stuff from time to time. Lock's Quest on the DS is a nice if simple diversion, for instance. Just know there is a metric ton of freely available stuff that goes deeper and more interesting out there if you want to seek it out.

nice, another game i'd put up there would be
snail mail

if you loved Field Runners
you should all try it out>>>>>

I've bought Fieldrunners and I enjoy it, but putting it on a top 10 list of 2008 shows just how out of touch magazines like Time really are.

Wow... a lot of bitter people here! They probably wanted to pick one iPhone game, since they believed the device and game to have generated a lot of worthy attention and praise.
I've been playing Fieldrunners from the very beginning, and while I want games to continually improve, this is BY FAR, the BEST game in the store so far.

I don't buy into the whole "A game is a conglomeration of features and quantity" argument.
To me, a game needs to be fun, have simple mechanics and build on that, well balanced and addictive. And Fieldrunners does each of those beautifully, as well as going the extra mile as far as visual polish goes, compared to most other games in the store.

I have played ALL of the TD games in the store. Free or not. Some are messy and plain ugly to the point I found it hard to stare at the screen. And others get near the mediocre level, such as Besiegement... which is nothing but a pile of features and numbers to make at best an average game. Even the free TAP Defense is better. But TAP Defense also has extremely annoying gameplay issues, continuity problems and balancing issues.

Simply put, there isn't a single TD in the store (although Mote-M and ITD are close seconds) as well balanced, aesthetically pleasing, elegant in game design, with broad audience appeal and the right mix of action vs. strategy.
And over 3000 people agree.

Congratulations Subatomic!! Amazing job!

I bought Fieldrunners based on the Time article and reviews on the app store. I liked the game at first and kept expecting there to be more than two maps. i'm stunned their isn't more.

They need to do more than add the "endless" mode. Really, how much time and effort would it take to add a few more maps? I understand adding new weapons would need balancing but at least add a few more maps with maybe some obstacles to deal with.

Time rates video games as well as it predicts global warming indicators! Remember the line "2008 is the year that there will be no ice in the North Sea", well it (the ice) grew by 500,000 km., so they were close, right? They picked PUTIN AS THE MAN OF THE YEAR!! I cancelled my subscription after that one. So when Time says anything, I almost ALWAYS go the other way. Heck, a TOWER DEFENSE GAME IN THE TOP TEN?? As another said, "What the #%^*?? Hey, Time, are you STILL wondering why you're going bankrupt?? Get some writers who can actually THINK CRITICALLY and report OBJECTIVELY!! How's about hiring a writer from a REAL GAMING WEBSITE to review and pick. And about global warming, well, hiring a CLIMATOLOGIST to write about that would help. I don't think your current ones know the difference in CO2 and H2O.