Imangi Studios’ Harbor Master [App Store], a game with a large fan following on our forums and massive international appeal (currently #3 in UK App Store) saw its first content update yesterday.
From our review of the game when it was initially released:
Like Flight Control [App Store] the game involves the use of the swipe gesture to safely guide your boats (planes) into their docks (landing strips). Imangi’s version does do justice to the gameplay mechanic and adds a number of nice twists to make it interesting.
Besides successfully docking your boats, you must also wait until they unload their cargo and then safely guide them out — all while avoiding hitting other boats. The situation can get relatively manic quickly requiring you to move some ships into holding patterns while waiting for a dock to free up. Larger boats move slower and also have more cargo to unload.
Three different maps were initially included in the game with slightly different layouts and even a cyclone in one of the maps (seen below) which sends your ships off track. In this latest update, Imangi added a fourth map, Cannon Beach.
The unique spin on Cannon Beach is the inclusion of pirate attackers that go after the cargo ships you’re attempting to bring in to port. Pirates chase after your ships and eventually steal cargo one piece at a time. Once they’ve stolen all the cargo the ship sinks which ends the game.
To defend against pirates, you use a cannon at the bottom of the screen. To fire you draw a line originating from the cannon aiming in whatever direction you want to shoot. Pirate ships are rather resilient though, so they will take two shots to sink. Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) your cannon balls will only damage enemy ships, so you don’t need to worry about accidentally sinking a ship with friendly fire.
Below is a brief gameplay video of the new map:
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
While the pace of the game shown in the video is rather slow, once you start playing for a few minutes things get amazingly hectic between docking ships, sending them off, and protecting them from the pirates. This new map was largely based on community feedback, and Imangi plans to continue releasing content updates like this on a bi-weekly basis pending no issues with the App Store.
If you have ideas for what you would like to see in Harbor Master‘s future, stop by the thread in our forums and leave a suggestion.
App Store Link: Harbor Master, 99¢
