'Saga Catapult' Defense Game Now Available
posted by arn on June 25th, 2009 7:37 AM EDT in $1.99, Action, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Independent developer Silverlode Interactive released their first iPhone game to the App Store overnight. Saga Catapult is a bit of a combination of a trajectory game and a defense game. We met briefly with Silverload at WWDC and learned a little more about them.
Silverload Interactive has been around since 2005 and has been primarily focused on their persistent online real-time strategy game Saga Online for PC. Silverload explored using many of the assets they'd developed for their PC game and applying it to a mobile game. The result was Saga Catapult in which you are the last catapult operator standing in the way of a horde of enemies trying to destroy your town.
The game places you in control of a catapult which you must use to take out the enemy invaders as they run left to right across the playfield. Since the catapult shots take a little time to arc their way to their targets, you typically need to aim ahead of the enemies. There are 30 levels in all with about 15 different attackers. Each attacker has a different set of attributes to keep things interesting. Early orcs are slow moving and might take a single shot while later creatures and vehicles may take multiple shots. Flying enemies including dragons and zepplins offer an additional challenge. We've been told later dark elves will even try to dodge your shots.
Each kill gives you a little extra gold which you can apply to upgrades to your catapult. These upgrades include: more damage, faster fire rate, larger explosion radius, projectile control, and more lives. Most are self explanatory, but the "projectile control" upgrade allows you to tilt the iPhone left/right to affect the trajectory of your shot. This can be very helpful for fast moving targets.
We played the game a bit at WWDC and tonight after its release and found it to be pretty fun. While it's a simple mechanic, they've done a good job keeping it interesting with new enemies and the use of upgrades. In particular, I suspect fans of trajectory games or castle defense games will probably enjoy this the most.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Link: Saga Catapult, $1.99
What's with the people running in the opposite direction at about 2:00-2:30 in the video?
Those are peasants trying to escape, and you're not supposed to hit them with your catapult. You're docked a life if you do.
Looks ok but not quite what I'm looking for. I want a clone of the flash game bowmaster where you pull back on the arrow and it determines distance to fire.
http://www.lostvectors.com/bowmaster/bow_rel9.swf
What a rotten job. You've got a giant slingshot and they've got TANKS!
Perhaps this is why you're the last guy standing (i.e. your fellow slingshoters didn't fare that well).
The Dwarves in SAGA Online are a lot more technologically advanced than the other races. While they have figured out tanks, the wooden tank is no Sherman, and their jetpacks are not something I would rely on for my daily commute. The dwarves in Saga Catapult on based on SAGA Online.
I wouldn’t really worry about the tanks though. One of the bosses is a Mechanical Giant that the dwarves scrapped together. He’ll take all your lives if you don’t bring him down in time.
The Dwarves are only one of the races imported into Saga Catapult. You have Orcs and Ogres and Dark Elves and bosses more dangerous and difficult to take down than a slow moving Mechanical Giant.
While the catapult starts out by shooting large stones, the upgrades will not only give you larger rocks with a greater area of effect but also explosive ammo that does a lot more damage. You may also want to get the upgrade that allows you to somewhat effect the direction of your shots through the magical ability of the iPhone accelerometer, you really want this upgrade on later levels when the Dark Elves start trying to dodge your shots.
…I'm sorry…that was a lazy effort by Sega….
Hey there Slava! Nice to see you around again – I'll have to pick this up – tell Tekoverall I said hello!
lmao@ zenchord- obviously not much of an attention span as its SAGA not sega. SAGA is a fantasy themed MMORTS/TGC thats proving quite popular.
There is ALWAYS one…
good game. worth the 2 dollars.