The tower defense genre has been around for years, punctuated every so often by the release of a game that sets a new standard. One of the first for the browser world was Desktop Tower Defense, and for the mobile market, an early heavy-hitter was the original Fieldrunners. Developer Subatomic Studios took a few years to do it, but the team has finally rolled out a worthy sequel with Fieldrunners 2. Expect more maps, more variety, more units, more enemies, and more rewards with this stunning release that will rewrite the way you think of the tower defense genre on iPhone.
Fieldrunners 2 pits you against wave after wave of fieldrunners, disposable enemies who crowd the level trying to make it across the screen. By buying and placing towers with different abilities, you can slow and eventually halt their progress, upgrading and deploying more units when the enemy creeps bump up their game. You can place towers on certain locations on the screen, and if the level has a more open design, you'll actually use them to block the enemy's progress, creating a gauntlet that pummels each foe as he weaves his way through the maze.
Instead of just static levels with waves of enemies, Fieldrunners 2 mixes things up with a variety of stage themes, each with a different goal and method for victory. Survival stages operate just as you might expect, throwing loads of enemies your way and forcing you to deal with them for as long as you can. The same goes for time trials and traditional wave-based levels. Puzzle stages are rather unique and require you do things like funnel enemies into certain areas or defeat them with particular towers. Later levels get even more creative with goals, turning the Fieldrunners 2 experience into something of a puzzle game instead of a typical tower defense title. But, you know, there's plenty of the latter to go around!
Analysis: Fieldrunners 2 spent years in the incubator, but it was worth the wait! This sequel managed to outdo its predecessor in almost every way, something very few follow-ups can claim. The design is more free-form and varied than the original, and it draws a lot of inspiration from the waves of tower defense games that have hit over the last few years. Even with the new elements, Fieldrunners 2 doesn't betray the proven defense formula, it merely complements it with a number of welcomed extras.
Here's the only real downside to Fieldrunners 2: no native iPad version, at least, none at the time of writing. Naturally, you can use the iPhone version on your iPad with no problems, but scaling the graphics doesn't look so pretty and is no substitute for a true iPad release. As with the original Fieldrunners, expect the big screen version to be released at some point in the future. In the meantime, break out your small iOS devices.
Three levels of difficulty can be selected before starting each stage, allowing you to earn more cash and points if you're up to the challenge. If not, no one's going to laugh at you for choosing the casual setting. We promise. No matter your mood, no matter your skill, Fieldrunners 2 has something to satisfy you. It stands out as one of the most full-featured and satisfying tower defense games on the mobile market!
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NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPad. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on the iPad. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
Walkthrough Guide
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Fieldrunners 2 Strategy Guide
General Strategy
Start each level with a few Gatling Guns, and fully upgrade them. The extra damage is worth more than extra guns, even where you're building a maze.
Don't place slowing towers early on in any stage. There's no use for them while you only have Gatling Guns. Once you're building more powerful towers, use slowing ones to cluster enemies around the high damage areas.
Don't forget you can pause the game! While paused, you can view creep paths and place or upgrade towers, so if you're getting overrun or playing the puzzle levels, this gives you a chance to recover. Pausing will not stop the clock in time trials, though.
Despite the tips given by the game, try to avoid needing to place towers away from your maze. Although you may need to catch stragglers at times, a more effective setup concentrates towers closer together to take advantage of status effects, combos, and multi-kills.
You can only take a limited number of towers into a level with you. Try to balance your selection based on prices, and scale up the towers you build as the creeps scale up in health, rather than trying to save for a Railgun right at the start of a level.
An example of an effective selection consists of the Gatling Gun, Glue Gun, Spark, Hive Tower, Tesla Coil, and the Railgun. In this selection is a cheap turret to be used as a wall, a slowing tower,two mid-range turrets (one short range, on long range), and two powerful, though pricey, turrets (again, one short range and one long range).
Although most levels can be beaten without selling towers, being able to rebuild your maze while the game is paused allows you to keep creeps walking round indefinitely. While it's not the best strategy, unblocking earlier exits and blocking the path a creep is on will force it to turn round and go back the way it came, which can buy you some time against stronger enemies.
You should always have the Gatling Gun in your loadout. It's great for building mazes even when the damage isn't useful anymore. It's also the cheapest gun, and without it you'll struggle at the start of a level.
Towers that inflict poison type status effects don't stack with each other. Don't build radiation towers side by side, for example, because you won't get their full effect.
While paused, any towers you build can be sold again for their full value. Use this to try out different mazes - they won't stick until you unpause the game.
Time Trial Strategy
During Time Trial stages, escaped creeps don't cost you a life. Because of this, it's not worth building slowing towers - the clock is ticking, and creeps with high HP are still only worth one point. Let them escape so that the next wave shows up faster.
Cluster highly upgraded towers in one small area where possible, rather than building complex mazes. A creep walking through a long, winding maze is costing you time.
Using Fast Forward doesn't speed up the clock, only the gameplay. In a Time Trial, Fast Forward should always be on in order to get creeps through the level as fast as possible.
Pausing also doesn't affect the clock, so know your strategy before you start.
The Time Trial maps are reused stages, so if you remember the maze you built to complete the map previously, remaking it as quickly as possible may be the best plan.
Puzzle Levels Strategy
The puzzles are tough! Pause the game after each level to allow yourself time to plan where the next towers are going to go.
Remember you can see creep paths while the game is paused, too. Use this to try out different placements for your towers and direct the creeps to the hazards as efficiently as possible.
Towers alone generally won't be enough to destroy creeps, but you can still use airstrikes and items if you don't solve the puzzle for a particular round.
Creeps will always take the shortest path to the exit, even if it means they walk through hazards on the way. You don't need to line their path with towers to direct them, just block any shorter way to the exit.
Sudden Death Strategy
Try to funnel creeps into as few paths as possible.
Focus all your firepower on those paths and hit them with high damage attacks and area of effect powers.
You can still use airstrikes and items, but you'll get overrun eventually no matter what, so once you've reached the target number of kills, don't waste additional items on the level.
FAQ
How do I get more stars?
You earn up to three stars per level you complete, based on the difficulty you finish it on. There are no other ways to get stars, and replaying levels on difficulties you've already completed won't earn you extra.
The only requirement to win the stars on a level is to complete it - it doesn't matter what your score is or how many lives you have remaining.
How do I get coins?
Coins are awarded based on your score at the end of a level, even if you didn't complete the level. You can improve your score by combos and multi-kills, and by finishing levels without selling any towers.
You can also earn coins by completing some of the groups of achievements.
Which towers can target aircraft?
All of them! Every tower and item can target both land and air enemies. However, flying enemies will ignore trenches or mazes and fly directly to the exit on a level, so make sure you have some firepower somewhere along the way.
What are airstrikes and how do I get them?
The airship icon in the top right gradually fills up under certain conditions. The main ways to fill it are through getting combo or multi-kills, losing a life, or clearing a round without any creeps escaping. Once it's full, you can tap the icon to launch a powerful attack that damages every onscreen creep.
What are elite units?
Destroying an elite unit unlocks a card. Elite units show up late on in some stages, and cross the field without any other units interfering. They're immune to airstrikes, but won't cost you a life if they escape.
What do cards do?
Cards are basically achievements. Most of them don't do anything, but collecting a whole set unlocks a coin bonus or a few free power-ups.
Which is the best slowing tower?
Each one has different strengths and weaknesses.
As an example, the Glue Gun can only hit one enemy at a time, but the slowing effect is huge and the tower is cheap. It's useful for holding big, powerful creeps in place for high damage towers to deal with. On the other hand, a tower like the oil tower will slow down everything in range, and can be used to control groups of low HP creeps that an area of effect tower can take out in one go for a combo bonus.
Posted by: Ben
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July 27, 2012 2:56 PM