'Bailout Wars' – Gameloft's Topical Castle Defense
posted by Eli Hodapp on October 9th, 2009 1:45 AM EDT in $0.99, 3 stars, Action, Games, Reviews, iPhone games, iPod touch games
We first heard of Gameloft's plans to produce a game targeted towards casual gamers based on topical humor back in the beginning of August, and if you somehow found yourself waiting for this game, you will be happy to find out that Bailout Wars [App Store] is now available for download.
There was a time when Bailout Wars may have been funny and relevant, but that time has long since passed, leaving a fairly decent castle defense style game with a highly questionable premise. The basic idea is you're defending the white house from five different types of bankers all intent on stuffing their pockets full of the bailout money which is somehow bursting out of the windows of the White House.
The game is controlled the same way as other castle defense games, you defend the White House using various flicking and swiping gestures. Different bankers require different tactics, while the standard banker can simply be flicked in the air, the stock broker will open his briefcase and use it to glide to the ground. To kill them, you'll need to slam them in to the ground with a swiping motion.
There's a banker with a vacuum that explodes when you tap him, high risk investors in helicopters that you need to make crash, and a giant CEO that can only be damaged utilizing the White House's weaponry and by flinging other bankers in to him.
As you progress through waves of bankers, you'll earn coins that can be used to buy upgrades to your defenses. Three upgrades are included– The tank and sniper fire at bankers, and Uncle Sam allows for the use of some kind of touch controlled orbital laser to fry the hordes of incoming bankers.
The animations in Bailout Wars are surprisingly well done, and despite the entirely dated subject matter, the bankers themselves do have a lot of cartoon character to them with detailed animations for each action. In fact, the amount of detail in the entire game is very high, making the questionable subject matter an even more puzzling design decision.
It is interesting to see Gameloft entering the 99¢ market with this game, but with the high production value of the art and sound in the game, you really have to wonder why they didn't pick a more universal theme. In comparison, Knights Onrush [99¢ / Free] offers similar gameplay experience for the same price, but without any attempts at stale humor or political overtones, which really is too bad because Bailout Wars is pretty fun for a castle defense game.
App Store Link: Bailout Wars, 99¢
TouchArcade Rating:
special points are given if you manage not to spend any TARP money
It's probably gonna do well regardless, casuals like old humor.
I must say, that animation is insane, even more so than Knights Onrush! Hopefully they apply this to that Chuck Norris game…
they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery..
Whats so dated about the bail outs? they are still happening!
HAHA toucharcade, thank goodness I don't come to your guys' website for political news, as you guys obviously don't follow anything. What exactly is dated about the subject matter?
We're up to 19 trillion last time I checked; closing in on that cap of 22 trillion that bill from last year set in place.
Um.. Are you sure about those numbers?
19,000 billion dollars seems a little high.
I'm not even sure what you're saying we have 19 trillion of. Sounds expensive!
Hey go back to your trailer hick, get out of Touch Arcade.
You are kind of a jerk. There is nothing wrong with being a hick you stereotyped freak.
As others have pointed out, the issue is quite relevant despite no longer being front page news on CNN.
:p
What's OLD is the gameplay. Frantic swiping has never been fun for me.
I agree … I can't figure out what is attractive about tossing a bunch of charging guys off the screen. I can definitely appreciate the production value, especially the animation, that Gameloft is bringing to the table, but this particular genre I just don't understand.
Irrelevant? Sweet dreams.
Besides, I think the topic is well chosen considering iPhone's target audience and the subject being very suitable for word-of-mouth marketing.
"and despite the entirely dated subject matter"
WHAT ?
ah ah ah….
For me, good job Gameloft.
Very beautiful!
But these games get boring faster than a round of Pocket God.
Should be in the entertainment category
meh. I hope there's an update coming. the game in its current form is highly enjoyable but a little more depth could be nice. more enemies, more weapons, more rothchilds and rockfellers… well just in comparison with knights onrush. also, its totally not outdated; on the contrary, its more than ever the #1 subject nowdays. maybe something more of today would be a game where you have to flick people out of their house…
Seriously? You’re now complaining because Gameloft is producing an original concept rather than a generic “Dungeons and Dragons” themed one?
there's nothing dated about the subject matter. its still on the news every day.
whos the dev on the forum that made the banker castle defense game that Apple rejected, then made it school kids, and had to change it again after a month or two?? Why did this get thru?? Well, I'm gettin it, it will be an antique someday
Perhaps a better name would have been deficit wars that way they could have had like a at least 16 year radius going both back eight years and forward at least eight.
At the risk of sounding political but mostly going for humor here: shouldn't the people in the White House be emptying those bags of money on to the ground in front of the bankers and CEOs and keeping other citizens outside the gates? That seems a little more in tune with what's been happening.
(For the record, I'm generally against my tax money going to cold hard cash handouts of any kind. "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish…" )
I won't say it's a complex game (castle Defense was never anyway) but there's way more than swapping your finger on the screen rapidly:
- Some enemies need to be thrown in the air and then thrown down. Some needs to be shake other needs double-tapping, etc…
- You got to be very careful (and strategic) when using the stronger weapons cause you won’t get far.
Like everyone said the animations and graphics are great (and hilarious too).
We're talking about 1$ guys so please stop complaining.
Personally I give it 9/10 (not 10 because I want more of everything).
That art is f*cking CRAZY!
Great job, guys.
Yes…it is.
Gameloft needs to make a Metal Slug type game. The art and animation in this one tells me that they'd do one helluva job.
It is $.99 and it is amusing. What more do you want?
I don't understand the criticism that it's 'dated' either. Still seems like perfectly relevant material to me. I'm downloading it right now coz I like what they've done. (It's nice when a fun title can be made at the same time as a good political statement.)
..I'd rather something like this come out after all the front-page news has gone away. If it gets noticed, this will just remind the politicians that what they've done is still widely regarded as stupid.
The stick wars type gameplay was cool 5-6 months ago but flicking guys across the screen gets old FAST. Then cartoon wars came out and it's a great example on creating a defend the castle side view game without getting finger fatigue lol.
AYE! 'tis truly olde neus. 'Twas t'other day whence I was fending owf huje swaths of attacks 'pon my castle, I maed note praysing true castle defens gaims that doth prezent current and topical content.
If it's a castle nawt, olde neus it be.