Previews

Hands on with Defend Your Castle on iPhone

Sketchy skirmishing

Hands on with Defend Your Castle on iPhone

Yes, I know it's difficult to believe, but you do own a castle. Following the atomic blast that fried the population into a crisp, leaving them as hostile stick figures, you were crowned king of the world and granted a castle. It's rather small and a bit sketchy, but in sore need of defending. And by sketchy, I don't mean the scary, back alley thuggish sort; more along the lines of a cute hand-drawn domain with crayon-coloured walls and pencilled in ramparts.

While some liberties have been taken with the premise behind Defend Your Castle, there's no uncertainty regarding its adorable sense of style. We'd like to believe the aggressive stick figure foes that assault your castle are the result of some hardcore apocalyptic blast, but they're more a labour of love in the development of this clever casual title.

Just as the title implores, you task is to defend your castle from an onslaught of stick figure enemies. The game is played in waves, each level bringing an assortment of foes that are flung away from your domain using your finger. A swipe of a stick figure sends them flying across the screen, a hard landing eliminating them from the battlefield. Initially, you only deal with unarmed infantry. Quick flicks keep them at bay. As you advance to later levels, new enemies appear with weapons like a tongue depressor battering ram. Naturally, it takes slightly more force to flick these foes.

Each eliminated enemy nets you points, which you can use between waves to purchase upgrades and replenish your castle's health. Fortifications, for instance, bulk up your castle walls to withstand more attacks. Purchasing the Pit of Conversion enables you to drag enemies into a bucket of blue paint at your castle's foundation, switching their allegiance to your side. Other enhancements include archery and magic towers.

Much of the game's appeal comes from its quirky piecemeal style that brings disparate objects and elements together. Like a collage, menus are cobbled together using Scrabble letter tiles, crumbled bits of notebook paper, and playing cards. It gives Defend Your Castle the feel of a homemade game, something perhaps you crafted with a sibling as a kid on a Saturday morning between cartoons.

That styling certainly will draw you in when the game hits the App Store within the month, but we question its long-term appeal. Flicking stick figures away from your castle is entertaining for a period of time, yet how long that fun will last is something we'll examine in our full review.

Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.