Iterating on Light and Dark

I hate shilling, and I’m not.

I also hate this concept that’s been thrown about that the iPhone is a gaming platform.  It’s not.  Let me repeat this again, so that everyone can understand (including the iPhone fanatics / fanboys out there):

The iPhone, while a passable communications device shrouded in “the shiny”, is not a gaming platform, and lacks the most basic of controls to appropriately, effectively provide a solid gaming experience, mobile or not.

There.  I said it.  There’s nothing wrong with this fact.  The sorts of games you can get on the iPhone that play the best are simplistic games like Bejeweled that require little in the way of precise controls and more about providing momentary diversions.

That said, I found a game that I can absolutely recommend from here on out till all of eternity:  “Fieldrunners”.  It’s a tower defense game, the very sort you’d imagine plays well on an iPhone.  It doesn’t require sophisticated controls (it has basically one control - drag a tower and put it somewhere).  The graphics aren’t demanding (even though the stupid phone does slow down occasionally - that’s what you get when you get an OS chock full of “the pretty” on top of a relatively anemic processor on top of an even more anemic amount of usable RAM), and they’re cleanly, stylistically drawn.

The basic gist of the game play is simple - enemies come from one side of the screen and try to go to the other, and it’s your job to stop them with your towers.  You have a few different types - a turret, a missile launcher, a weird goo gun that slows them down, and a tesla tower.  They all cost different amounts, have upgrades, and boy - do you need the upgrades: over time enemies become stronger and stronger and even the most effective tower set up that’s improperly upgraded will barely make a dent in the invading army.

The game plays more towards strategy than a twitch reflex, which is how a good tower defense (and probably a good mobile game) should play.  Super Monkey Ball?  Not at all interesting because the tilt sensors and accelerometer just don’t work that great as a control scheme when your  controller is the entire screen as well.

It’s addictive, fun, and engaging.  I have played it far more than I should have in the last 24 hours of ownership than anyone should.  And I can’t stop.  That’s more than I can say for basically any other game out there on the iPhone, of which I have several (including Tap Tap Revenge, and a variety of other paid games that aren’t even worth mentioning), and it keeps me coming back for more.  That’s what I want out of my gaming experience on my phone.  If I wanted a deeper experience I have a DS or PSP to play a lot of more sophisticated games on.  Ultimately they all have a time and place - and Fieldrunners fills the iPhone’s gaming needs pretty well.

If I had a way of rating on this blog, I’d say:

“4.5 out of 5”
or
“90 out of 100”

But stop reading this and go get it.  Don’t feel bad about paying - ultimately we should be supporting people who put in time and energy into making something fun and enjoyable for a few small dollars.  And these guys deserve it.