Update
Fieldrunners finally received a new update, 1.3.0 which added even more reason to keep playing it. The best feature is the inclusion of OpenFeint Gold which has a sleek new interface. With OpenFeint comes online high scores which were lacking in Fieldrunners, and provides them for each of the three gameplay modes on each map.
Tons of achievements are included as well from the simple to the insane, plus there are challenges. You can challenge any of your OpenFeint friends to five different gameplay challenges that aren't seen in the regular game. Three maps were included in the last update, and this one brings two more which are $0.99 each via in-app purchase. The maps also provide brand new towers too. This is a great way to continue to support the developer, and you don't need to buy them if you don't want to as you still get three maps.
The 1.3.0 update solidifies Fieldrunners as the best tower defense game in the App Store, as the only concern previously was a lack of online high scores. Fieldrunners is great because of the outstanding character animations, and just the fun it brings to the genre. If you still haven't picked it up, it's an absolute must for only $2.99.
*Note when it launched it was priced at $4.99, so if you buy the two new maps it's still only $4.99. Also check it's positioning on our
tower defense games appguide.
Overview
Fieldrunners is a well-polished tower defense game for your iPhone. For those of you unfamiliar with the genre, tower defense games task you with building defensive structures across a playing field. These structures fire automatically at “creeps” or “runners” that are trying to get from point A to point B.
The more baddies you kill, the more towers you can buy. Various incarnations of this basic formula have popped up on flash-games sites across the Internet, but believe it or not, Fieldrunners can hold its own against the best of them.
Features
The first thing I noticed when taking a look at this app was the presentation. Everything looked good and ran smoothly, from the game’s title screen to the later stages of the game with tons of towers and bad guys on-screen.
The app has great accessibility, making it very easy to pick up and play, partly because the controls are so simple. To construct a tower simply drag your finger from any one of the four tower icons in the corner of the screen onto the playing field. I loved the save feature that wasn’t thwarted by incoming calls, accidental or intentional home/lock button presses, and anything else I threw at it.
Fans of tower defense games will thrill at the prospect of their favorite time killer in their pocket. Newcomers will soon find themselves hooked. I have personally spent hours crafting the ultimate defense against small running bad guys.
I started out thinking I’d beat the game easily and maybe come back to see if I could do it while losing less lives. I ended up getting trounced pretty quick. I was more motivated than ever to build a maze that no baddie could ever escape from.
Breakdown
I am in love with this game. I had played a couple tower defense mods for Warcraft III, but since then I hadn’t played too many games like it. Since picking it up, I’ve done a tour-de-force of TD games around the internet, and Fieldrunners has definitely been one of the better ones.
Taking a quick look at the reviews and developer notes in the App Store, I’m seeing that the developers have responded to what the players want. I like that. Since the initial release, they’ve added sound, a new field on which to fight, and fixed various bugs.
Essentially, this game stands out as one of the finer examples of what is good about the tower defense genre. If you like TD, you’ll probably love this app. If you have never heard of TD, you should still give it a shot. I have more than gotten my money’s worth.
While not necessarily bad, there are some areas of the game that have room for some expansion. The basic roles are covered in the current selection of towers - direct damage, slowdown, splash damage, and high-damage towers. However, I feel like the gameplay could be spiced up by the inclusion of one or two more types of towers. I see where they might run into issues with fitting the icons on the screen, so I understand their decision. I’m just saying as it pertains to video games, more ways to explode things is usually better.
Map selection is pretty sparse at this point, with only two maps to choose from. Again, all the basics are covered - there’s a map where bad guys come from one direction, and one where they come from two. Maybe a future update could include a canyon type map, where there was already a maze for runners to navigate, and towers could only be built on the sides.
Also, there’s no music during regular play. This isn’t a huge deal, but I did notice it. Since music playing on your iPhone fades out as soon as the app comes up, something to listen to other than the sounds of dying runners might be appealing.
Verdict
Buy this app. It is worth your money, and it is astoundingly entertaining. You will get more mileage out of it than many of the apps currently available for the iPhone. The features that are included will keep you busy for longer than you’d expect. I have logged at least 15 hours on this game in the past week. I can’t believe I’m saying that about an iPhone app, but it’s a good sign for the iPhone as a gaming platform.
