Hack-N-Slash Meets Tower Defence In Chillingo's Vampire Rush HD
Vampire Rush HD ($2.99) by Chillingo Ltd (available separately for iPhone) is part a hack ‘n slash dungeon crawler part tower defense game and the combination works. So do the rich bright graphics, the controls and all the little details that went into this killer new game.
Remember when Vampires weren’t ripped teen-idols wandering the day and hanging out in high school? Well, it may not be the fashion in 2011, but developers at A-steroids clearly haven’t forgotten they are blood-sucking fiends.
In Vampire Rush you play Captain Greg, a swashbuckling hero, whose job it is to protect the gates of the underworld from waves of Nosferatu and other creature of the dark bent on busting them wide.
Use a brilliantly responsive virtual joystick with your left hand to move Captain Greg around in this top-down action game, and tap the slash button with your right to slice your way through hoard after hoard of hell-spawned invaders.
Been there, done that? Well here’s the twist. Greg can place towers on the playing field and buy power-ups like fireballs, and health with money earned by successful kills. It’s ridiculously fun.
Vampire Rush was released for Samsung phones last October to critical acclaim. It was supposed to port to iOS back in January.
But A-steroids teamed up with publishing powerhouse Chillingo to polish off any rough edges.
You can read the backstory elsewhere, I just mention it because the game feels fully tested. I played for well over an hour without encountering any bugs, lags or other technical issues.
And this port of Vampire Rush packs a lot more than the original award-winning version. There are more levels, better graphics; in fact the whole UI was retooled for the App Store launch.
The game features a full 3D engine and gameplay is super smooth. I don’t like virtual joysticks, but this one is as good as they get. Here’s hoping this game is iCade compatible.
Check out the trailer:
The game uses Chillingo’s Crystal network for leaderboards, achievement s and social network interaction, which is great because this game has had some serious buzz.
More towers would be nice, and I’m not in love with the mini-map; I can tell where the fiends are coming from, but it’s hard to use for strategic tower placement.
The game is also little on the content-light side with only seven levels, but at $2.99 for iPad, $1.99 for iPhone you get more than your money’s worth.
And this is a Chillingo title. Updates with new levels, towers and everything else will almost certainly roll out in stages.
If you are a fan of either hack-n-slash action games or tower defense strategy games Vampire Rush is a winner.
Even if neither genre is your favorite, the bold graphics, the well-blended gaming elements, and the amazingly well-crafted controls will make any gamer very happy. Get it!
