Siegecraft Commander Review

By Megan Walton,

Tower defense may not be everyone's dream game and it's fair to say that it's a mixed bag when it comes to games of that genre. The latest rather unusual offering comes from Blowfish Studios, who previously released Gunscape and now bring us Siegecraft Commander. A bizzare tower defence style game that sees you throwing your towers to build them, how does Siegecraft Commander compare?

I'll be your commander

The game offers the choice of two modes: campaign and multiplayer. In campaign, you have a choice of two factions and a series of levels will follow no matter which you choose. You can either join the human knights of freemoi, whose airship has crashed, or the lizard men, whose allies have become a little less friendly lately. The stories of these campaigns are told through a book, which makes the minimal story seem more substantial and interesting. Having two different armies on offer increases the time you can spend with the game, and the campaign levels do well serving as tutorials and also easing you into the rather unusual gameplay.

This is a tower defense game. To win, or progress past the level, you must destroy the enemy's keep, bit the chances are there will be a few towers, weapons and enemies in your path. The AI continues to play whilst in the game, so knocking down one tower might cause them to build another. This makes the game both fun and infuriating at the same time, as mini victories for destroying towers may only be temporary when another two or three are built in its place. Obviously you are able to do the same thing, but the game does seem to struggle when there is a lot of towers and a lot going on; the more you build, the more it lags. It does eventually get to the point of being unplayable, but most people won't be building enough things in normal play to get to this point.

The rather unusual building style offered by the game strikes you as unique and fun at first. From an invisible bow and arrow, towers and weapons are built by firing them into an empty space on the standard map. That tower or weapon then links back to the original tower from which it was thrown, creating a wall that will stay until one of the towers is knocked down. Some towers can only build certain sub towers; for example, a keep and an outpost can build anything, garrisons can build barracks to send out soldiers and temples can build totems. There is only a limited amount of towers and weapons to build, so it doesn't take too long to get your head around everything and the game doesn't alienate anyone by being too difficult to grasp.

Outposts! Outposts everywhere!

Whilst throwing towers is a novelty, there are a couple of problems with the basic idea. Firstly, you can easily shoot yourself in the foot and block either yourself or your soldiers in a little area. The best way to avoid this is to build outposts to an open area, and then build your other towers. You can also destroy your own towers and people to clear a way, but this is a double edged sword in that you might take out some of your own as well as the enemy in a close battle. Another problem with the tower throwing is the accuracy and sensitivity of the aiming, both of which are very hard to get to grips with. Chances are it will take a good few shots to get your tower to land where you want, and there's no quick delete or undo button to help you out.

Despite becoming repetitive after a while, the gameplay does shine at times and offers more unique weapons. Catapulting cows from trebuchets and casting hexes on enemy towers does provide some fun, and there are even dragons and airships thrown into the mix that can attack from above. The trick to being successful in this game comes from learning which weapons and towers to place where and to balance defending your own keep with taking down the enemies. The fact that both players are active at the same time makes this all the more difficult, but the multiplayer mode builds on this by offering real time gameplay or taking turns. You can pick how the game will be played out beforehand: the slightly more chaotic real time gameplay or the more organised turn based strategy.

The multiplayer mode can be played with up to four players locally or online. Each person has their own keep and army and it works as a free for all until the last person standing wins. There are different maps on offer with different terrains and environments, and gold and crystal mines that give you resources to build extra towers. With the game being in the early days of release, finding a game was hard, but the game seemed to connect well and didn't drop out at all. The lagging did make an appearance in the multiplayer as well, but this was only minor.

Protect the keep!

The game's medieval setting is perfect for the gameplay on offer: all towers, swords and catapults, and not a gun in sight. The cartoony and colourful style makes the game bright and fun to play through, and while the gameplay may not always hold your interest, the look of the game holds your attention. The maps are quite small, so you are limited with the play space and what you have to look at, but the different terrains on offer (swamp, desert, forestry) all suit the cartoon based graphics as well. The soundtrack is reminiscent of ancient battles but still manages to be upbeat; it matches the chaotic gameplay.

There are 12 achievements on offer and they're unlikely to come from natural story progression. They all require you to do certain things, some of which are harder to do than others. Turning a cow into a mad cow, or destroying an enemy tower with one of yours that is about to be destroyed are some of the easier ones. The harder ones come from trying to hex chain 4 towers, or destroy 10 units with a single keg. Local multiplayer can be used for the achievements, so some of the harder ones can be earned more easily this way.

Summary

Siege Commander is enjoyable at first, and throwing towers, cows and TNT is fun. The game's medieval setting and cartoony art style adds a nice touch to the gameplay, both campaign and multiplayer. However, having a tower land where you want is very awkward and more trouble than it should be. Little annoyances then start to set in, such as lag that causes problems when you build too many towers. Unfortunately the game just gets annoying and repetitive after a while, ultimately falling short in keeping you engaged for any significant time.

Positives

Gameplay feels unique
Multiplayer offers choice of real time or turn based
Bright and colourful graphics accompany a fun soundtrack

Negatives

Game lags when too many towers are built
Gameplay begins to get tedious after a while
Aiming can be off at times

Ethics

The reviewer spent approximately 5 hours building towers, throwing cows and putting spells on people, unlocking 8 of the game's 12 achievements. An Xbox One download code for this game was provided by the ID@Xbox team purpose of this review.

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Written by Megan Walton

Megan is a TA newshound and reviewer who has been writing for the site since early 2014. Currently working in catering, she enjoys cooking extravagant dishes, baking birthday cakes for friends and family in peculiar shapes, writing depressing poetry about life and death, and unlocking every achievement possible.