Rock Defence
Tower Defence games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, so it takes something a bit different to catch our eye. Crazy Monkey's Siegebreaker is one such game.
Rock star Keith Rock is busy playing to a crowd of screaming fans, uttering his catchphrase 'I Care Not' when he finds himself transported to a kingdom under siege. Pretty soon it becomes clear that he must rescue the kings of the Brookelands from a mysterious evil which has befallen the land, turning all the knights and people in to undead monsters, out to kill their king.
Unusually for a Tower Defence, the game features a strong and humorous storyline which is told via both comic book style strips and conversations with other characters. The developer has worked hard on creating a reason for playing through the game with the tongue in cheek characters and humour and it really pays off.
The gameplay involves placing our guitar wielding hero along the tops of the crumbling castle so that he can blast sonic energy at the oncoming hordes. The king can also deflect weak enemies but is damaged by stronger ones. Once a king is dead then it's game over.
While the challenge gets pretty tough early on, there are upgrades in the form of orbs, which appear after enough enemy waves have been destroyed. These can be used to upgrade your basic stats (speed, damage etc) or provide you with special weapons. The first weapon available is a ball which can be rolled into the enemy, causing a huge amount of damage. A timer then counts down until you can use this again. Like your stats, the special weapons can also be upgraded to increase their power or decrease the time to recharge.
As the game progresses, Keith soon finds that he's not alone in his quest to save each kingdom. Two other allies become available through subsequent levels and all have different abilities and special attacks. Controlling three characters and the king at the same time can become a little hectic at times, so placing them well at the beginning of a wave is of upmost importance. Decisions need to be made as to how your precious Orbs are spent; do you carry on upgrading Keith at the risk of the other characters or balance them all out?
To help with Orb collecting, once levels are completed, the game allows you to play them again in Seige Mode, an endless mode that allows you to practice your strategy and collect more orbs. This feels more like a standard Tower Defence game, but with the characters instead of towers. Surviving a certain number of waves will provide an Orb where the last enemy fell. It's a tricky task to move the king to pick these up without risking him getting hurt, especially as later waves get more frantic, but those little round objects can be the difference between completing or failing harder levels in the main game mode.
Another way to stockpile Orbs is through the In App Purchasing system. Paying real money means an easy upgrade and progression through the difficult levels. It's worth spending at least the minimum amount to get the most from the game and even the next largest pile of Orbs would only cost you the same price as an average iOS game, but you can still get Orbs for free through advertising, watching videos or simply grinding the Siege Mode.
Variety of enemies (including zombies that knock a player out if they burst too close) and new companions throughout the main story help to shake up the gameplay and while later levels may need some further replay to complete, the game as a whole is fun to play and the challenge is well worth taking up.
Crazy Monkey have done a great job in creating a fresh approach to Tower Defence, with the added RPG elements and story only adding to the quality of the finished product. It may require a little grinding or a lot of money to progress, but the effort is always rewarding.
- Sound: 7
- Graphics: 8
- Gameplay: 9
- Longevity: 8
8
Great
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