App-lesauce iPhone App Reviews

By: Critical Thought Games LLC
Site: http://criticalthoughtgames.com/
Release Date: September 14, 2009
Price: 99 Cents
Click icon to download

Geo Defense Swarm is a sequel to the popular Geo Defense tower defense game from earlier this year. A key difference is that in the first game, the creeps followed a specific path, while the sequel, except for a few levels, offers a more freeform approach. Geo Defense Swarm boasts spectacular particle effects and couples that with great sound effects.

Some levels make you guide the creeps along a designated path...

...while others let you determine which way the creeps go.

The key to any tower defense game is its towers, and here is a breakdown of the towers of Geo Defense Swarm:

Blaster Tower

This is your basic gun turret. Fully upgraded, these towers are bad mofos with a range of about one quarter of the map.

Laser Tower

The laser turret slices through any enemy that is unfortunate enough to cross its path, as well as any other enemy that happens to line up with the intended target.

Missile Tower

The missile turret offers a powerful payload with a slow rate of fire. Fully upgraded, this tower is a beast.

Shock Tower

The shock tower slows enemies down. Upgrading increases the range and the number of beams that are deployed.

Thump Tower

The thump tower puts out a pulse that damages all enemies within range. Upgrading this tower to the max will create small earthquakes. The number of shock rings and the frequency at which those rings are generated is greatly increased.

Vortex Tower

The vortex tower absorbs the energy given off when the creeps explode. Players can then link their laser and blaster towers to the vortex tower. The linked towers then use the energy gathered in the vortex tower to greatly increase the damage they inflict.

Geo Defense Swarm is the chief reason that the post count has been lacking here recently. It is the best example of a TD game I have played yet. For its excellent graphics, gameplay, and addictiveness, Geo Defense Swarm gets a 9 out of 10.

By: Kayxo
Site: http://www.getifun.com/kolonists/index01.html
Release Date: August 12, 2009
Price: Free
Click icon to download

Kolonists Lite is a turn based strategy game. Players place farms and roads in strategic location in order to take advantage of the natural resources of surrounding spaces. Wheat fields produce grain, mud pits produce bricks, mountains produce ore, trees produce timber, and sheep produce, well, sheep. Collect these resources and use them to build new structures like roads, farms, and villas, bribe an enemy worker into abandoning a spot, buy favors from Rome called decrees, or use them to trade for resources you are lacking.

Screenshots:

The strategy here is deeper than it appears on the surface. The main goal is to expand your influence to a level of six. Influence is gained by building farms, villas, roads, and by playing the Legion decree. Use your resources, influence, and decrees to become the governor of Kayxo island. In case you are having trouble, the instructions included are detailed and of much help. The lite version is the only one out as of this writing. If the full version adds to this experience then it, too, will earn an 8 out of 10.

By: BLUE
Site: http://bluewhistle7.blogspot.com/
Release Date: August 6, 2009
Price: 99 cents
Click icon to download

There is a new genre of games in town, residing primarily on the iPhone and iPod touch. That new genre is the stick figure game, and Cartoon Wars is a great example. Cartoon Wars is a stick figure RTS game. The point of the game is to destroy your enemies castle while protecting your castle from enemy marauders. Use the gold earned from battles to upgrade pretty much everything, from individual units to your rapid fire bow on the top of your castle.

Screenshots:

Cartoon Wars suffers from one small balance problem. Fight and win a battle too quickly, and you will find yourself fighting a 45 minute battle the next turn. Winning that battle will win you so much gold that you can upgrade to your heart's content. This leads to one or two more short battles that won't produce much gold at all. Also, after winning one of these massive battles and upgrading your units, you can send out one unit that outranks the enemy units and watch as it single-handedly battles its way through the enemy hordes all the way to the enemy castle. After maxing out all upgrades, though, the game becomes much more balanced. Battles then range from 15-30 minutes, and victories are hard-fought.
Cartoon Wars is a fabulous example of what gamers were trying to tell the console manufacturers before the generation of the PS3 and XBOX360: Gameplay is what's important and graphics are not the be-all end-all for a video game. My wishlist for future updates would include multiplayer, both over the internet and bluetooth connections. An overhaul of the sounds would be good, too, as that becomes annoying quickly. Cartoon Wars is a stellar game and has provided me with the most fun I have had on my device in months. I will give Cartoon Wars a 9 out of 10.

By: 3d Magic Kft
Site: http://iphone.3dmagicbox.com/antwars.php
Release Date: August 11, 2009
Price: Free
Click icon to download

Ant Wars is a real-time strategy game in which you control an army of ants whose sole purpose is to wipe out any other ant colony in the area. There are three different types of ants to choose from, each with their own strengths. The black ants specialize in propogation making it easier for them to take over anthills and grow their population rapidly. The red ants focus on speed. They scurry over to new anthills and beat the other races to the punch. The brown ants have a slight boost on speed and propogation, but it is at the expense of agility, which means they absorb greater losses when defending or attacking an anthill.

Screenshots:

Controls are tight. Simply tap on one of your anthills and then tap on an enemy anthill and a stream of ants leaves to attack. Once multiple anthills are controlled, select multiple anthills to send a massive swarm to attack your enemy. Need to send reinforcements to a battle weakened anthill? Simple. Select the anthill(s) from which you want to send reinforcements and double-tap the weakened anthill.
Ant Wars Free is a fun strategy game. In this free version any kind of hardcore thinking man's strategy is absent. Simply swarm the empty anthills, multiply, and swarm the enemy anthills. In the free version victory is totally achievable by continuously selecting all of your hills and sending them to one enemy anthill after another. The lack of strategy in this free version keep it from getting a better score. I will give Ant Wars Free a 6 out of 10.
The full version of Ant Wars came out on August 15, and a review will follow shortly, after I have had a chance to give it a really good playhrough.

By: Solus Games
Site: http://www.stragea.com
Release Date: June 10, 2009
Click icon to download

Stragea is a real-time strategy game coming from the school of the original Warcraft or Age of Empires. You start with the Archon, who can build buildings. He is the only one who can do this, so he must be protected at all times. He can build a crystal mine, a tower, or a barracks. (More in the paid version) Use the towers to defend your crystal mine, and use the barracks to build footmen and archers. The footmen and archers are your offensive units. Advance your army into enemy territory and take out their crystal mine or Archon to win the game.

Screenshots:

Stragea is not as deep as current RTS games, but it is deeper than I expected. Units are upgradeable. In the heat of battle, individual units are hard to select. Even though the Archon has a button that will take your view directly to him, I had to hit that button multiple times before it would register. If you are new to the genre, then Stragea is a solid title. If you are an experienced RTS player, then Stragea is good, but leaves a little to be desired. I will give Stragea a 6 out of 10.

By: Sixth Corner
Site: http://sixthcorner.com/five
Release Date: May 11, 2009
Click icon to download

Five, according to its description page, is based on a game called Gomoku, or Gobang. If you haven't heard of these before, then think of Five as a game of Tic-Tac-Toe where the board is a whole sheet of graph paper instead of nine squares.

Screenshots:
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In Five, you and another player (human or CPU) take turns placing X's and O's trying to get five in a row. You can place your mark anywhere on the screen. The AI on the medium difficulty actually allowed me, several times, to place five O's in a row without any interference. On the hard difficulty, the AI doesn't miss much, and I had to work for my victory every time. I will give Five a 7 out of 10.

By: Sergei Borisov
Site: http://www.touchgunner.com
Release Date: May 10, 2009
Click icon to download

Gun Wars Lite is an excellent strategy board game. It is based on classic hexagon style war games like Panzer General, only a lot more simplified. Gameplay boils down to tapping the gun you want to use and the gun you want to attack. If you win, a number of your guns will move into the new space, leaving you with two relatively weak spaces. At the end of your turn, you are awarded an extra gun for every space you have that is adjacent to another one.

Screenshots:

You can have up to eight guns in one space. Just because you outgun a rival's space doesn't assure an automatic victory. It just gives you a good chance. If you go into the options menu and turn on flanking mode, then all spaces that you own adjacent to the one you are attacking will join in. I really prefer to play with this option turned on.
Gun Wars Lite is a pick up and play strategy game that is also very deep. I will give it an 8 out of 10.